Videogame reviews are an essential part of the videogame industry today. From reviews by specialized gaming outlets such as IGN or Kotaku to individua

The Angry Video Game Model: exploring neural network architectures to predict videogame review ratings – Journal of Geek Studies

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2024-04-02 05:30:03

Videogame reviews are an essential part of the videogame industry today. From reviews by specialized gaming outlets such as IGN or Kotaku to individual reviews on platforms that sell the game themselves such as Steam, reviews are an important part of the gaming ecosystem. They allow players to identify which games are worth investing their hard-earned cash and their scarce leisure time.

Reviews have also been used as a way for customers to draw attention to an issue with the game. This practice, known as review bombing, has increased in recent years. One of the earlier high-profile examples is the review bombing of Mass Effect 3 in 2012 due to its controversial ending, which led developer Bioware to later release an extended cut as a response (Gelbart, 2019). Other examples include the review bombing of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim following the announcement in 2015 of paid mods for the game, which ultimately led the game developer Bethesda to postpone this feature until 2017 (Gelbart, 2019), and the review bombing of Pokémon Sword/Shield due to the games not including every Pokémon from previous generations, among other issues (Kim & Liao, 2019).

Reviews can also be the source of a lot of fun. Numerous YouTube channels specialized themselves in making game reviews in an entertaining way, providing (sometimes) insightful commentary on the quality of games.