Review aggregator Metacritic has removed a review from British publication Videogamer, which recently fired all of its journalists and replaced them with artificial intelligence.
Review aggregator Metacritic has removed a review from British publication Videogamer, which recently fired all of its journalists and replaced them with artificial intelligence.
This is reported by Kotak, citing its sources. Videogamer was acquired by media company BGFG a few years ago and recently sold the publication to Clickout, an agency engaged in spam in the gambling industry.
In its review, Videogamer gave Resident Evil Requiem a 9/10. However, readers pointed out that the writing «smells like artificial intelligence» and that its author, «experienced iGaming and sports betting analyst» Brian Merrygold, turned out to be fictional.
«Resident Evil Requiem isn’t just a triumph for Capcom’s survival horror dynasty; it’s a bloody testament to why we love to be scared to death. It’s a finale that effectively grabs the franchise by the collar, shakes it up hard, and demands that it acknowledge how far it’s come since 1996's Tank Control. While other series slowly draw to a close, RE9 emerges with the confidence of a Tyrant punching through a brick wall,» reads the review, which is full of neutral clichés.
Metacritic is a huge influence in the video game industry and its score is often used as a sales indicator. There was also a case where developers at Obsidian lost bonuses because Fallout: New Vegas did not receive a high enough Metacritic score.
«Metacritic has been a trusted source of reviews for a quarter of a century and follows a rigorous vetting process when adding new titles to our list of critics. However, in some cases, such as when a publisher is sold or when the writing staff changes, issues such as plagiarism, theft, or other forms of fraud can arise, including reviews generated using artificial intelligence,» Metacritic’s Mark Doyle told PC Gamer.
According to him, Metacritic’s policy is to never post reviews generated by artificial intelligence on the service. When such reviews are detected, the aggregator removes such reviews and terminates cooperation with the publication.
According to Kotaku, several other recent Videogamer reviews have also been removed from Metacritic. Resident Evil Requiem currently has a score of 92 on the service for PC.
