Moore avoiding Metacritic for FIFA 11

It is "almost impossible" for an annual sports title like FIFA to get an average review score in the mid-90s, EA Sports president Peter Moore has said.

Obsessing over review score averages on the likes of website Metacritic puts developers on "a slippery slope", Moore told Develop.

"I've taken the entire FIFA team out for dinner for a tremendous celebration for what they did on FIFA 10, because they not only delivered a 90 they delivered a 91," Moore said.

"In terms of what I want from FIFA 11, it is difficult to tell them to go and get a 92 or 93. It is almost impossible to take an iterative annual sports title and get it into the mid-90s.

"There are no plot lines, no boss characters, no map packs. There will be metrics that I work into their objectives, but I don’t think it will be around Metacritic.

"Here in the US Robin Hood just came out and it has been ripped apart by the critics, but it made $40m in the first weekend. There is a bunch of games that sell millions of units that only get a mid-70s Metacritic.

"You can break Metacritic down and say, 'We can get two extra points by doing this,' but it may not actually enhance the gamers' experience, and that is where there is a line we have to be careful we don't cross. It is a bit of a slippery slope if you focus everything on Metacritic."

In recent years Moore has publicly pushed EA's FIFA development team to break the 90 review score average barrier.

FIFA 10 managed it, as well as a 9/10 review score from Eurogamer.

Will FIFA 11 manage it? Eurogamer's very own Tom Bramwell previewed it last month.