Did Metacritic scores (non-user) affect Andromeda sales?

This is something I've been wonding about - there have been some studies done to address metacritic score impacts on sales.

Ars Technica - arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/steam-gauge-do-strong-reviews-lead-to-stronger-sales-on-steam/
"[There is an] unmistakable upward trajectory in median sales as review scores increase, especially as those scores run through the 80s and 90s. The median game that receives a score of 70 on Metacritic sells about 89,000 estimated copies on Steam. At a Metacritic score of 80, the median sales go up to about 182,000. At a Metacritic score of 90, the median game skyrockets to just over 803,000 copies on Steam. The same upward trends can be seen at other sales percentiles over the Metacritic range."

"That said, for the vast majority of games in the middle, Metacritic is far from the final determinant of sales destiny. A game is still probably better off sales wise with a Metacritic score of 80 rather than a Metacritic score of 60, but there are so many outliers and so much variability to sales performance in that review range that other factors seem more important to a specific game's eventual success."
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MyNintendoNews / Destructoid - mynintendonews.com/2012/03/10/metacritic-scores-really-do-matter-to-video-game-sales/
"EEDAR analyst Geoffrey Zatkin has shared some interesting facts and figures with Destructoid regarding Metacritic and video game sales. According to Zatkin average review score floats around the 68-71 out of 100 range, but the games rated in that range rarely sell more than 100,000 copies." Here’s a few more insights that you may find interesting:

- Titles rated below 80 sell poorly
- Average review score is around the 68-71 out of 100 range.  These games rarely sell over 100,000 copies.
- Using the 3-month average sales of titles in 2011, games in the 70-79 range sold only 62,000 units.  60-69 range sold roughly 57,000 units
- 216 games rated at 90 or above in 2011.  These titles saw average sales of 700,000 units
- 80-89 rated games saw a 3-month average drops to 236,000 units
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Kotaku - kotaku.com/metacritic-matters-how-review-scores-hurt-video-games-472462218
"To the people who make and sell video games, review scores are more important than many casual fans realize. Mostly because of Metacritic. To people who work in gaming, these Metascores can mean a lot. Say you’re a developer who needs money. You’ve got some ideas to pitch to publishers. You take some meetings. They’re going to ask: just how good have your games been?"

“Typically, when you go into pitch meetings and whatnot, publishers are going to want to know your track record as far as Metacritic,” said Kim Swift, a game designer best known for helping create games like Portal and Quantum Conundrum. “As a company, what is your Metacritic average? As an individual, what is your Metacritic average?  It’s pretty common in the industry these days, actually,” Swift told me. “When you’re negotiating with the publisher for a contract, you build in bonuses for the team based on Metacritic score. So if you get above a 90, then you get X amount for a bonus. If you get below that, you don’t get anything at all or get a smaller amount.”

In other words, a developer’s priority is sometimes not just to make a good game, but to make a game that they think will resonate with reviewers, which could mean anything from artificially extending a game’s length or adding superfluous features that they believe reviewers like.


My takeaway from all of this is that metacritic definitely matters - particularly for games that can crack that 90% ceiling.  It's always interesting to see how metacritic scores could potentially impact employees themselves that have worked on games.  Definitely a reminded to avoid lambasting the creators of the games themselves - although in my opinion, those in charge are fair game, as their actions can directly effect the livelihoods of their employees future work endeavours.