Anyone who has listened to an Electronic Arts conference call lately knows that EA CEO John Riccitiello is not shy about throwing Metacritic scores around.

Noting a drop in his company's average Metacritic score from 77 to 72 last year, Riccitiello is now telling investors that he's not happy.

"There is nothing acceptable about that," Riccitiello said according to Reuters. "Our core game titles are accurately measured and summarized by these assessments, and that is a very big deal.. We need to recover here."

Riccitiello's emphasis on aggregate review scores is seen as part of... Read more

Has a game's Achievement list ever impacted your decision to make a purchase? A new study by a Californian research firm says that it probably has.

The Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) recently released the first results of a study on Xbox 360 Achievements, coming to the conclusion that games with more Xbox 360 Achievements tend to generate both greater sales and higher Metacritic review scores.

The diversity of Achievements is also noted as having an effect on sell-through, with the study suggesting that games with online-based Achievements sell up to 50% more copies than those without them on.

Of course, these trends may have simpler explanations: higher profile games are more likely to have larger Achievement lists based on the quality... Read more

It is commonly known that publishers put a high degree of importance on video game review scores, particularly since the advent of large-scale score aggregate sites such as Game Rankings and Metacritic. Average scores are frequently cited in press releases and statements, and in 2004, Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment went so far as to announce that it will be partially basing developer royalty rates for licensed video games on average review scores. However, according to a recently released study by the Susquehanna International Group, the situation may in fact be just as some of us have suspected: scores don't really matter when it comes to sales. The firm released a report entitled "Debunking the Game Rating Myth: Do Game Ratings Matter? – Part 2," following up on its first such report last year. This time around, SIG upped the sample size of reviews and games from 260 to 1200, and was still unable to find any meaningful correlation between scores and retail performance.

"After going through multiple scenarios, we believe a game rating, in most cases, is not a reliable tool for predicting game sales," reads the report. "There are isolated examples of strong correlation, but they are just that--isolated. We believe a naked game rating without context is largely useless." More significant factors in determining a game's success include factors such as past performance of the game's franchise as well when the game is released. Jason Kraft of SIG noted that last year's findings did not go over well with publishers, and he expects a similar situation with this year's. "The notion that game ratings might have very little to do with game sales touches a nerve," states the report. "And, no wonder--for whatever reason, many investors have learned to rely on them."