September 2nd 2023.
This week has been a rollercoaster for Starfield fans. As the Bethesda review controversy continues to unfold, it’s clear that some readers are feeling a bit disturbed. Microsoft had hoped for a big launch of their most important first party release since the Xbox 360 era, and that’s all been put on hold due to the confusion around Starfield’s Metacritic score.
The reviews are mixed, but it’s not the game itself that’s got people talking. Bethesda refused to send advance copies of the game to some UK websites and YouTube channels, including Edge, Eurogamer, GameCentral, The Guardian, and even channels that don’t conduct reviews. It seems like Bethesda was trying to keep the Metacritic score as high as possible, but chose an odd way to do it.
The reaction from some loyal Bethesda and Xbox fans was not that a publisher was manipulating the press, but that these sites deserved to be treated poorly because of their negative opinions about Xbox games. These fans seemed to think that Bethesda was justified in playing favorites and giving out copies to some sites but not others. This is a scary and disturbing mindset to have.
The strangest part is that these same fans were quick to berate the concept of reviews, only to be the first to complain when a game doesn’t work or isn’t what they expected. Reviews could have saved them time and money, but they were too busy hating on the press.
At the end of the day, the success of Starfield isn’t dependent on reviews. Most fans had pre-ordered months ago and everyone else is getting it for free through Game Pass. But it’s still a shame to see how toxic behaviour, conspiracy theories, and vindictiveness have taken over what could have been a simple process.
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