Tell Us Dammit: Do Reviews Still Matter To You?

Destiny has been out for a good few days now, and no reviews. It seems to be doing pretty well in sales/word of mouth regardless. What does that tell us? Does this mean that video game reviews are becoming less important when it comes to dictating the video games you choose to buy?

Or does it just mean marketing>reviews?

(I think that’s always been the case)

I think there’s an argument to be made that nowadays, people engaged in gaming culture generally have decided what games they want to purchase long before the game is released, long before the reviews come out. Reviews — even traditional reviews — play a slightly different part in the process now. Once upon a time they helped steer us toward the right purchase choice, nowadays they’re just part of the broader conversation. We still read reviews. We read them more than ever. We probably just read them for different reasons: to affirm our purchasing choice, to read opposing viewpoints, etc.

In other words reviews are now just a part of the discussion we are all having about video games. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I think that’s a good thing.

Now if we can just move past that whole “video game reviews should be objective” thing. That would be lovely.

What are your thoughts?


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