Metacritic
| Metacritic | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Type | Review aggregator website |
| Industry | Internet, Media, Entertainment |
| Founded | January 2001 |
| Founder | Marc Doyle, Julie Doyle Roberts, Jason Dietz |
| Headquarters | Santa Monica, California, United States |
| Products | Metascore, User Score |
| Parent | Fandom, Inc. |
| Website | https://www.metacritic.com |
Metacritic is a review-aggregation website that collects published reviews of films, television shows, music albums, and video games and condenses the critics' verdicts into a single weighted-average rating called the Metascore, shown on a 0 to 100 scale.[1] The site was launched in January 2001 and has become one of the most widely cited measures of critical reception for games, including Virtual Reality titles. Because Metacritic indexes professional reviews of VR and Augmented Reality software alongside traditional games, its Metascores are routinely quoted as a reception benchmark in coverage of VR releases such as Half-Life: Alyx and Beat Saber.[2]
Overview
Metacritic was launched in January 2001 by Marc Doyle, his sister Julie Doyle Roberts, and Jason Dietz, a University of Southern California law classmate of Doyle, after about two years of development.[1] The concept extended the review-pooling idea already used by the film site Rotten Tomatoes to a broader range of media, so that a reader could gauge the overall critical standing of a title without reading every individual review. The site aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, and video games; it formerly covered books as well.[1]
For video games, Metacritic groups titles by platform, so a multi-format release (for example a game available on both PC and a console, or a VR game available on more than one headset platform) can carry a separate Metascore for each version. This per-platform structure is why VR-specific releases and ports are tracked individually on the site.[1]
Metascore and User Score
The headline figure on Metacritic is the Metascore, a weighted average of the scores given by professional critics. Each reviewing publication is converted to a common 0 to 100 scale and then weighted, with the relative weight assigned according to a critic's stature, reputation, and review volume so that some outlets count for more than others in the final average. Metacritic does not publicly disclose the exact weight assigned to any individual reviewer.[1] For films and music the weighted averages are normalized before the Metascore is produced, similar to grading on a curve, so the published Metascore can differ from a simple unweighted average of the underlying review scores.[1]
Separate from the critic Metascore, every title also carries a User Score, an average of ratings submitted by registered members of the public on a 0 to 10 scale. The User Score does not feed into the Metascore, which is drawn only from accredited professional reviews; the two figures are reported side by side and can diverge sharply on the same title.[1]
Metacritic colour-codes scores so readers can read sentiment at a glance, and it uses different thresholds for games than for other media. For games, a green Metascore covers roughly 75 and above, yellow is mixed or average, and red marks generally unfavourable reception; the bands for films, television, and music sit lower because a middling score on those media can still signal something worth seeing or hearing.[1] In 2018 the site added a "Must-Play" badge for games that reach a Metascore of 90 or higher from at least 15 professional reviews.[1]
Ownership history
Metacritic has changed hands several times since its 2001 launch. The site was sold to the technology-media company CNET in 2005, and CNET (with Metacritic) was acquired by CBS Corporation in 2008.[1] In 2020 the marketing company Red Ventures bought the CNET Media Group from ViacomCBS (Paramount Global) in a deal reported at around 500 million US dollars, which brought Metacritic and sister sites such as GameSpot and Giant Bomb under Red Ventures.[1][3]
On October 3, 2022, the entertainment platform Fandom, Inc. announced that it had acquired Metacritic together with six other brands (GameSpot, TV Guide, GameFAQs, Giant Bomb, Comic Vine, and Cord Cutters News) from Red Ventures. The transaction was reported at roughly 50 million US dollars in cash.[3][4] Fandom remains Metacritic's parent company.[3]
| Year | Owner | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Founders (Marc Doyle, Julie Doyle Roberts, Jason Dietz) | Site launched in January 2001[1] |
| 2005 | CNET | Metacritic sold to CNET[1] |
| 2008 | CBS Corporation | Acquired via CBS's purchase of CNET[1] |
| 2020 | Red Ventures | Part of the CNET Media Group purchase from ViacomCBS (about 500 million US dollars)[1][3] |
| 2022 | Fandom, Inc. | Acquired October 3, 2022 with six sister brands for about 50 million US dollars[3][4] |
Relevance to VR and AR
Metacritic functions as a standard shorthand for critical reception in the video game industry, and that role extends to Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality software. As VR games receive coverage from the same professional outlets that Metacritic indexes, individual VR titles accumulate Metascores that writers, storefronts, and wiki articles cite when summarising how a release was received.
The clearest example is Valve's Half-Life: Alyx, a flagship VR title released for PC in March 2020. Its Metascore placed it among Metacritic's highest-rated PC games and made it the top-rated PC game released in 2020 on the site.[2] As of June 2026 the Half-Life: Alyx PC page shows a Metascore of 93 and a User Score of 9.1, both in Metacritic's "universal acclaim" range.[5]
Other VR and VR-supported titles likewise carry Metascores that are frequently referenced when comparing the catalogue. The table below lists a few examples drawn from published Metacritic data; Metascores can change over time as additional reviews are counted, so these figures are point-in-time values.
| VR title | Metascore | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Half-Life: Alyx | 93 (PC) | Among Metacritic's top-rated PC games; top-rated PC release of 2020[2][5] |
| Astro Bot Rescue Mission | 90 | PlayStation VR exclusive platformer[6] |
| Beat Saber | 86 | Rhythm game widely cited among the best-reviewed VR titles[6] |
| SUPERHOT VR | 83 | VR adaptation of the time-bending shooter SUPERHOT[6] |
Because Metacritic does not maintain a single combined ranking that isolates VR-only software, comparisons of "best VR game" status are generally assembled by third parties from the per-title Metascores rather than published by Metacritic itself.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 "Metacritic". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacritic.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Half-Life: Alyx is now one of Metacritic's top-rated PC games of all time". April 1, 2020. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/half-life-alyx-is-now-one-of-metacritics-top-rated-pc-games-of-all-time/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Fandom Buys TV Guide, Metacritic, GameSpot and Other Brands for About $50 Million in Cash". October 3, 2022. https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/fandom-buys-tv-guide-metacritic-gamespot-1235391144/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Fandom acquires Metacritic, GameSpot, TV Guide and other entertainment brands in deal worth around $55M". October 3, 2022. https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/03/fandom-acquires-seven-brands-from-red-ventures-gamespot-tv-guide/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Half-Life: Alyx Reviews". Fandom, Inc.. https://www.metacritic.com/game/half-life-alyx/.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "10 VR Games To Play After Half-Life: Alyx, Ranked By Metacritic Score". April 8, 2020. https://www.thegamer.com/vr-games-half-life-alyx-ranked-metacritic/.