In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Doyle revealed that Metacritic does, in fact, give preferential treatment to gaming journalists with more years in the industry, stating their reviews “might be worth a little bit more in the overall average,” and emphasizing that this practice isn’t new – the website has always done that.
Having disclosed this, the Co-Founder was quick to downplay the impact and claim that the bias isn’t that significant, assuring that while they “do give a little bit more influence to the highly respected veteran critics,” an unweighted score would only be different by 1-2 points compared to the final score. While that may not seem like much – and really, it isn’t – one can’t help but recall Fallout: New Vegas’s 84 Metascore, which cost Obsidian Entertainment a financial bonus, proving that even one point can make a difference.
