This week Amazon started showing Metacritic ratings on videogame listings as a part of game descriptions. Apparently, Metascores have been applied to most games, even ones as old as The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
Many games media outlets have spoken out against Metacritic. "You lose control over what your score means, because Metacritic has locked down a numerical score that tries to take non-numerical scoring systems into account. You lose control over when you can release your review, because companies give you ultimatums based on how Metacritic interprets that score," states ex-Ars Technica writer Ben Kuchera.
Kotaku writer Jason Schreier shares similar sentiments: "I've written extensively about the problems with Metacritic—how their scores remove nuance and ambiguity; how game publishers have influenced and tampered with scores; how Metascores affect which game studios stay afloat; how Metacritic culture has actively impacted the way some developers make games."
Amazon is following in the footsteps of Steam in listing Metacritic scores for games. The online retailer has yet to list Metascores for any other forms of media. Then again, no other form of media is quite so score-centric as videogames.
