Crimson Desert
Pearl Abyss
Metacritic scores have always been a source of controversy in the video game industry. Games can live or die by them. If bad word of mouth spreads, it can tank a game. In contrast, great ones can drive big sales and Game of the Year nominations. But now we’re seeing the results of “underperforming” even with what is supposed to be a perfectly fine score.
Pearl Abyss, the publisher of Crimson Desert, saw its stock fall by 30% after the Metacritic score of the game was revealed when the review embargo dropped. It’s a 78/100, where that would be pretty good if this were a movie or TV show. But the video game industry is different, and for Crimson Desert, it simply isn’t good enough for investors.
What’s going on? Well, the current state of the video game review industry is that almost all scores fall between a 7-10. At this point, it’s more accurate to think of them as letter grades than seven being significantly above an “average” of five. A five will often shut down your studio – even a six might.
And in this case, a mega-blockbuster like Crimson Desert, even if it was divisive, was expected to at least reach 80 on Metacritic, if not 85 or even 90 for a big win. A 78 is considered an underperformance in this context, whether that’s fair or not. A 78 is a C+, even if Metacritic considers it “generally favorable.”
Crimson Desert
Pearl Abyss
This, of course, comes off as rather ridiculous, as the actual global gaming population does not get their hands on the game until tonight, and no impressions from those fans are in yet. It’s certainly possible they like it more than critics do, but on top of that, the game has done very well in presales, and there is no indication of mass cancellations because of this Metacritic score.
It should be noted that Pearl Abyss’ stock price has risen significantly over the course of the last year, as hype grew and grew for Crimson Desert, which was well-received in its marketing previews. That may have contributed to the sudden drop, but even now, it’s still above every peak it had in the past year.
As someone embedded in this industry for over the past 15 years, I have watched this slide toward nearly every big game being reviewed between a seven and a 10, and anything below that is considered something of a disaster.
That said, there are plenty of games with a score like a 78 that gamers like. I am most recently reminded of Black Myth Wukong, a game that barely stayed out of the 70s with an 81 score, went on to sell 25 million copies, and landed a GOTY nomination. I don’t think Crimson Desert’s fortunes will turn out quite that well, but this score is hardly some guarantee of failure. We’ll see what the stock does once actual sales numbers come in after launch.