Hey again, Tom here.
I’m really excited to announce today that Eurogamer reviews are changing.
Here’s a bit about how, and the thinking behind why.
In short, Eurogamer is moving to a five-star review rating system, beginning this week.
We rarely used Avoid, because it always felt a bit mean.
Which brings us to five stars.
It’s universally understood, simple to take in at a glance, and easily shared.
Chris Tapsell writes…
Hello!
Instead, this is a summary of what options the game has, if any.
Everything else stays the same.
Here’s a big breakdown in detail.
How will it work?
Eurogamer’s reviews will rate games out of five stars, with no half stars and no zero stars.
Will Eurogamer start reviewing films, TV, or anything else?
What about Early Access games, betas, and games that change over time?
We think our current approach for these edge cases works well, and won’t change.
We also generally don’t do re-reviews outside of exceptional cases.
Will stars correlate to the old badges, and will they change?
Are we adding any extra words, summaries etc to go with stars?
Do they have any specific meanings?
We’re not adding specific words to go alongside the stars.
Why change from the badge system?
That’s understandable - the Recommended badge did ultimately say “recommended”.
Additionally, too many games fell into one of these two categories.
To many, our reviews understandably became a question of “thumbs up or thumbs down.”
This is a terrible way to think about video games.
They are maybe the weirdest things of all things that people write reviews for.
We could’ve changed the word - maybe it says “Highlight”?
As much as nuance is an essential part of reviews, a sense of clarity is essential, too.
Why not ditch scores altogether?
I have massive respect for websites which have done this, and I’ve seen this suggested by readers.
And honestly, we’re lucky to have readers who just want to read.
That’s more than just a cynical point about ‘getting clicks’.
- but we believe in our reviews, and their relative visibility and weight matter.
Score-aggregating sites, social media accounts, and internal publisher feedback reports and scored mock reviews will still exist.
Developers will still see bonuses tied to metascores.
It’s better to get involved.
It would be weird and frankly rubbish if they didn’t.
Why five stars over scores out of 10, or a 100-point scale?
Five stars is clear, sophisticated and well-recognised, and more appropriate than other ranges.
Scores out of a 100 meanwhile feel less suited to video game reviews than physics exams.
Will the way you go about reviews change to fit the stars system?
The way we evaluate games will stay the same.
