Metacritic halts developer career scores
"It is a work in progress."
Metacritic has axed its controversial developer career scores following complaints and criticism from the game press and industry.
Yesterday reports emerged that Metacritic had begun collecting the score distribution of developers and working out an average career score.
It determined whether a game developer played a part in the creation of a game by having a gander at the credits entered on GameFAQs, which, like Metacritic, is owned by CBS.
Miyamoto had a career score of 80, Kojima 83, and Molyneux 82.
Now, individual career scores are no more, and Metacritic founder Marc Doyle has explained the decision.
"Although our credits database (which is powered by our sister site GameFAQs) is growing, as our users' feedback has indicated, it is a work in progress and is not nearly as comprehensive as it needs to be to accurately provide a career score for these individuals," he said.
"As such, we have removed that career score from the pages dedicated to creative individuals behind games on Metacritic. We are still very much committed to building a credits database, and welcome your participation in that process."
The career score move was, Doyle explained, part of an overarching attempt to "allow our users to discover new products by exploring other titles by the creative teams behind the movies, games, TV shows, and albums our users enjoy".
Metacritic has in recent years become an important part of the video game industry.
Game developer bonuses are sometimes linked to game Metascores, and publishers view the magical 90 plus review score average as indication of a successful product.