Unveiling the Mystery of Metacritic: An Exclusive Interview with Co-Founder Marc Doyle

Metacritic was launched in 2001 by Marc Doyle, his sister Julie Doyle Roberts, and Jason Dietz, with the primary goal of helping people make informed decisions about the games they play. The site's scoring system has undergone several tweaks over the years, including the separation of PC and console scores, and the introduction of weighted averages to give more influence to veteran critics. Doyle emphasizes that Metacritic's primary focus is on providing a reliable indicator of quality, and that the site is not responsible for the way its scores are used by game developers or publishers. The site has a strict policy of only allowing original reviews to count towards a game's Metascore, and does not allow re-reviews. However, Doyle is open to the idea of including links to re-reviews on a game's Metacritic page. The site's critic selection process involves a rigorous evaluation of a publication's history, review rate, and scoring philosophy, and Doyle relies on a group of advisors from reputable publications to help make these decisions. As the gaming landscape continues to evolve, Metacritic is considering the inclusion of non-traditional media, such as video reviews, and is wary of the potential impact of AI on the review aggregation process.