Game Reviews Don't Matter, Study Finds

Next Generation has an article up looking at a report from SIG, on the correlation between game reviews and sales. Their findings indicate that, while reviews obviously do have some effect on games sold, there just isn't that much of a correlation. From the article: "He said he doubted that publishers and PRs would stop caring about review scores, especially as they matter a lot with consumers who compare games from the same sub-genre — say, basketball games. But he said that, as with last year's report, the report's findings are unlikely to be popular. 'We received a lot of attention but the stats do not lie,' he said."

Comments

I read reviews as an afterthought

[Enoxice]

I tend to read about games through, for example, their website, previews, beta-tester forums, etc. I make a decision about whether or not a game is worth my money on my own, go out and buy it, play it, then think "hmm...that was [fun/stupid]. I wonder what other people think about it." Then and only then do I go and read reviews.

Incorrect

[Sigma 7]

Game reviews do matter - its called word of mouth. Terms such as "clickfest", "pushover" and "tedious" are negative aspects of a game that you should avoid.

If you want a list of things that a good review should look for, all you have to do is find lists of Cliches and reviews that make note of them. There are similar lists for strategy and action games - but common components among all such lists involve being railroaded through events outside of the players control (e.g. is captured by 3 units after taking out 2000 soldiers), or events that are obvious enough to be traps but the player is forced to go through them to advance the plot.