What Is a Metacritic Score and How Should You Use It?

When you search for a game online, you will almost certainly encounter a Metacritic score — a single number between 0 and 100 that attempts to summarise critical reception. It is one of the most referenced metrics in gaming, used by players to decide what to buy and by publishers to determine developer bonuses. But what exactly does a Metacritic score mean, how is it calculated, and how much should you trust it? This guide answers all of those questions and gives you a more complete toolkit for evaluating games before purchase.

What Is Metacritic?

Metacritic is a review aggregation website owned by Fandom (formerly CBS Interactive). It was founded in 2001 and covers films, TV shows, music, and video games. For games, it collects written reviews from professional critics and outlets, converts each review to a numerical score, applies a weighting system based on the publication's influence, and calculates a weighted average. This weighted average is called the Metascore.

Separately, Metacritic collects ratings submitted directly by users of the website. This produces the User Score, displayed on a 0–10 scale. The two scores are independent of each other and often differ significantly.

How the Metascore Is Calculated

Metacritic does not publish the exact weighting formula it uses, but the general methodology is known:

• Reviews from larger, more established outlets (IGN, Eurogamer, GameSpot, PC Gamer, etc.) are weighted more heavily than smaller publications.
• Reviews that are not scored numerically are converted by Metacritic — a "positive" review might be converted to 80, a "mixed" review to 60, a "negative" review to 40.
• A game needs at least 4 reviews to receive a Metascore. Many smaller games never get one.
• The score is updated as new reviews come in, so it can change in the weeks after a game's release.

The Difference Between Metascore and User Score

When critics and users agree

For most games, the Metascore and User Score land within 10–15 points of each other. A game with a Metascore of 85 typically has a User Score of around 7.5–8.5. When both scores are high, it is a strong signal that the game is genuinely excellent across a broad audience.

When they diverge — and why

Large gaps between the Metascore and User Score are common and often meaningful. There are several typical causes:

• Review bombing: Users coordinate to flood a game with 0/10 ratings in response to controversy — a price increase, a political statement by a developer, a perceived change to game mechanics, or an unrelated corporate decision. The resulting User Score is artificially low and does not reflect the actual game experience.
• Fans inflating scores: Highly anticipated sequels or franchise games sometimes receive inflated User Scores from fans who rate before playing or rate purely on brand loyalty.
• Legitimate disagreement: Critics and players genuinely weight different things. A critic may praise a technically innovative game that is not very fun to play. Players may love a game with a repetitive structure that critics find tedious but audiences find meditative. Both perspectives can be valid.
• Online multiplayer games: Games with heavy multiplayer components are often reviewed by critics at launch with healthy servers, but the player experience degrades as the playerbase shrinks. User Scores submitted years later may reflect that degraded experience.

Limitations of the Metascore

It measures critical consensus, not personal taste

A Metacritic score tells you what professional critics, on average, thought about a game. It does not tell you whether you will enjoy it. A game with a Metascore of 72 that belongs to your favourite genre and hits all your personal preferences may be a better purchase for you than a universally acclaimed 94-rated game in a genre you dislike.

Genre and context matter

Games are reviewed in context of their genre and platform. A turn-based strategy game is not evaluated by the same standards as a first-person shooter. A score of 78 for a niche visual novel may represent something more like 90 in the context of that genre, because the critic did not fully connect with the format. Reading two or three actual reviews is almost always more informative than the score alone.

Small review counts produce unreliable averages

A game with 6 reviews and a Metascore of 82 is much less reliable than a game with 60 reviews and the same score. The margin of error on a small sample is enormous. Be especially cautious with smaller titles that received limited critical coverage.

Review coverage is skewed toward AAA releases

Many of the best games of recent years — Vampire Survivors, Balatro, Buckshot Roulette, Dave the Diver — were ignored by major outlets at launch or received limited coverage. The Metascore is a much more reliable signal for high-profile releases than for indie or smaller titles.

Alternatives and Complements to Metacritic

Relying on a single score from a single aggregator is never the best approach. These alternatives provide additional perspective:

• Steam Reviews: Steam's "Overwhelmingly Positive / Very Positive / Mixed / Mostly Negative" rating system is based on thousands of verified purchasers who actually own and played the game. It is arguably more reliable than Metacritic for PC games because the reviewers are paying customers with real playtime data.
• OpenCritic: A competitor to Metacritic that uses a different weighting methodology and is more transparent about its process. It also shows what percentage of critics recommend a game, which is often more useful than a raw score.
• RAWG and IGDB ratings: Community-driven rating databases used by platforms including GameScanAI. RAWG aggregates ratings from multiple platforms including Steam, Metacritic, and GOG to provide a composite picture.
• YouTube and streaming: Watching 15–20 minutes of actual gameplay footage is often the most reliable way to know if a game's style, pacing, and content will suit you personally.

Summary: How to Actually Use Metacritic

1. 90+: Very likely to be excellent. Still check if it is your genre.
2. 80–89: Strong recommendation. Read a review or two to understand the caveats.
3. 70–79: Decent game but probably has notable weaknesses. Research before buying.
4. 60–69: Mixed reception. May be good for a specific type of player. Read user reviews carefully.
5. Below 60: Usually skip unless you have a specific reason to believe the critics missed something (check Steam reviews).
6. Always check review count: Under 10 reviews means the score is unreliable.
7. Compare Metascore and User Score: Big gaps tell you something important — investigate why.

GameScanAI displays Metacritic scores alongside Steam ratings and RAWG data for every game in the search results, giving you a multi-source picture before you decide to buy. Use the search tool to look up any game and compare scores across platforms.