That has more or less always been the case with the commercial game review industry. I remember even back in the late 1990s on one game magazine's forum one of their own critics said that they can't be all the time 100% brutally honest with their reviews. He recommended reading the review instead of giving too much weight to the rating and reading especially between the lines.rabidtictac wrote: ↑Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:50 amThat + when I say "paid," I mean paid off in some way. Not necessarily with money. But still paid off. It's a carrot-and-stick environment. If you review the games well, then the publisher sends you advance copies and other goodies and gets you into special events. These benefits ultimately bring you more exposure and money over your competitors who maybe don't have this level of access.Kugelfisch wrote: ↑Sun Jan 17, 2021 9:38 pmThey are but they also have a vested interest to kiss ass so they don't get blacklisted.Angelfire Memes wrote: ↑Sun Jan 17, 2021 9:04 pmThe big reviewers are just consoomers who naively take it all.
I don’t think critics these days are interested in putting their honest opinion even between the lines anymore.