Just hours after The Last of Us Part II’s release last month, some gamers posted ultra-low scores for the title on Metacritic. Since the story unfolds over 20 to 30 hours of gameplay, it was hard to believe the reviews pouring in after just a few hours. Metacritic took note of this score bombing and quietly changed its policy. Now, users have to wait 36 hours after a game’s release before they can post a review. From a report: When you visit the Metacritic listing for a brand new game, you’ll see, “Please spend some time playing the game,” followed by the date and time that reviews open. This appears to be Metacritic’s way of ensuring that users actually play a game before they review it and don’t rely only on their biases, leaks or streamer playthroughs. “We recently implemented the 36 hour waiting period for all user reviews in our games section to ensure our gamers have time to play these games before writing their reviews. This new waiting period for user reviews has been rolled out across Metacritic’s Games section and was based on data-driven research and with the input of critics and industry experts,” a Metacritic spokesperson said in a statement provided to Engadget. The change was first noticed about two weeks ago, but it’s getting more attention following the release of Ghost of Tsushima, the first big launch since the wait period was created.
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Source:: Slashdot