IGN - Is Metacritic Ruining The Games Industry?
It also leads to some very dodgy behaviour from the publisher side of things. I’ve been told stories of PR executives working on particular games being directed to specifically target these smaller sites in the hope of raising that average score and covering up a less enthusiastic reception from the big outlets. For most people working in games marketing, Metacritic will come up during their annual review process, and a less-than-ideal average score for a game will sometimes result in a severe bollocking.