Suda51 Says People "Care Too Much" About Metacritic Scores

Summary

• Metacritic scores are undeniably a huge part of modern gaming conversations, with gamers flocking to the site any time a new game releases.
• That said, they're not the be all end all, and legendary director Suda51 thinks people care too much about them.
• Suda maintains that they can directly impact originality, though the scores aren't something he cares about all too much.

Whenever a new game releases, swarms of gamers flock to Metacritic as soon as the embargo lifts. Some want an easy way to check out the critical reviews, but most just want to see what the aggregate score is.

After all, with the cost of games continually rising and the calendar consistently jam-packed, it's only fair for gamers to want to see if their hard-earned money is going to the right thing.

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However, there is a negative side to Metacritic scores. Legendary director Suda51, along with his creative partner Shinji Mikami, believe that the scores can directly impact originality, with publishers often opting for the safe and formulaic route.

The Numbers Don't Tell The Whole Story

In an exclusive interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Suda affirmed that people pay too much attention to whatever the score on Metacritic is. He said:

"Everybody pays too much attention to and cares too much about Metacritic scores. It's gotten to the point where there's almost a set formula – if you want to get a high Metacritic score, this is how you make the game."

That score almost certainly has an impact on sales, and companies no doubt want to achieve the highest score possible, particularly as game development costs continue to skyrocket. More niche games are less marketable, per Suda, and so, "the bigger companies might not want to deal with that kind of thing. That might not be the main reason, but that's certainly one reason why," he added.

Still, while Suda believes gamers and companies pay too much attention to them, it's not something he himself is concerned with. "What's important to us is putting the games out that we want to put out and having people playing the games we want them to be able to play," he explained.

Indeed, Suda is known for some of the most inventive and creative titles. Games like No More Heroes, Shadows of the Damned and killer7 make up his portfolio, many of those titles often being far from critically acclaimed, but favorites among gamers nonetheless.

As Mikami put it in the interview, "More unique games don't really have the same marketability." And he's not wrong, either. Lollipop Chainsaw is all about a cheerleader killing hordes of zombies at a high school. That's not the easiest thing to market, compared to something like The Last of Us.

But that doesn't make Lollipop Chainsaw a bad game. It's just different. And different can be good and fun in spite of its Metacritic score.

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