Developers Make Harder Versions of Games for Journalists to Get Higher Scores — God of War Writer Reveals the Trick

Some players relish it when a game delivers a genuine challenge.

Recently, a clip from the podcast “Play, Watch, Listen” went viral in the gaming community. A writer from God of War described a tactic some developers allegedly use to secure higher review scores.

Alana Pearce recounted that a developer friend said his studio will sometimes make the press build deliberately tougher — they’ve noticed that the more difficult the build, the more favorably journalists tend to receive it.

Pearce explained that people often think, “If I’d played it better, this would be an amazing game,” so they may give a positive score without finishing it. If they do reach the end, the rating can drop because they conclude the game wasn’t challenging enough.

Source: iXBT.games