{"id":501729,"date":"2026-02-26T22:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501729\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T22:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T22:28:09","slug":"metacritic-removes-resident-evil-9-review-from-fake-ai-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501729\/","title":{"rendered":"Metacritic Removes Resident Evil 9 Review From Fake AI Writer"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Resident Evil Requiem review published by long-standing UK gaming news site Videogamer has been removed from Metacritic<\/a> after readers pointed out it was written by a fake AI journalist who doesn\u2019t actually exist. Videogamer\u2018s human masthead was gutted last week, sources tell Kotaku, and the site has been publishing apparent genAI slop ever since.<\/p>\n

Videogamer, purchased BGFG a few years back and recently sold to gambling seo spam agency Clickout<\/a>, gave Resident Evil Requiem a 9\/10 in its review this week. But readers pointed out that the writing \u201creeks [of] AI,\u201d and its author, \u201cexperienced iGaming and sports betting analyst\u201d Brian Merrygold, appeared to be a made-up person complete with an AI profile image.<\/p>\n

The review in question is full of clich\u00e9s and generalities rather than specifics about the game and how it plays. Here\u2019s an excerpt:<\/p>\n

Resident Evil Requiem is not just a victory lap for Capcom\u2019s survival horror dynasty; it is a chainsaw-revving, blood-soaked testament to why we love getting scared stupid.\u00a0It is the sort of finale that effectively grabs the franchise by the lapels, shakes it violently, and demands you acknowledge just how far it has come since the tank-control days of 1996. While other series limp toward their conclusions,\u00a0RE9\u00a0arrives with the confidence of a Tyrant smashing through a brick wall.<\/p>\n

It happens like clockwork with every major\u00a0Resident Evil Requiem leak, doesn\u2019t it? We worry if the developers can balance the scales. After the southern gothic reinvention of\u00a0RE7\u00a0and the action-hero theatrics of the recent remakes, the franchise has been having something of an identity crisis. This game solves it by simply doing both.\u00a0It bonds the trauma of Raccoon City with modern design sensibilities, proving there is plenty of life left in this undead horse. It frames the horror not just as a series of jump scares, but as a legacy that haunts its characters as much as it haunts our backlogs.<\/p>\n

It was previously scraped and featured on Metacritic for its review score roundup on launch day. It raises concerns about quality control for the primary video game review aggregator<\/a> that fans consult before buying games and that companies mention in their quarterly earnings reports when touting the success of recent releases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s bleak. I was reading some RE Requiem reviews and found this thing published by videogamer. Can’t find anything about the writer, everything about it reeks AI (dead giveaway being the image). Low effort, gargabe.<\/p>\n

Mind you, this review made its way to Metacritic. https:\/\/t.co\/4STN8DjAwe<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/awk26P9wSA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Andr\u00e9s (@Andrew_east) February 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe RE Requiem review and a handful of other Videogamer reviews from 2026 have been removed from Metacritic,\u201d site cofounder Marc Doyle told Kotaku in an email.<\/p>\n

As spotted by Gfinity\u2019s Andr\u00e9s Aquino in a post on X<\/a>, everything about Brian Merrygold\u2019s profile on Videogamer comes off as suspicious. The byline appears to have no prior online history and the profile image url is tiled \u201cChatGPT-Image-Oct-20-2025-11_57_34-AM-300\u00d7300.png.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several other authors on the site have similarly suspicious-looking AI-generated profile pictures that don\u2019t mention they were generated by ChatGPT in their file names, suggesting this may have been a slip-up on by Videogamer site management as it pivots the outlet to completely AI-generated junk. Other current bylines on the site include Shooter Orson<\/a> and Steven Danielson<\/a>. Like the Merrygold account, all three had their X profiles created in October 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ScreenshotsX <\/p>\n

Sources told Kotaku that Clickout began publishing AI-generated content under the casino and gambling portions of Videogamer around that time last fall, but it wasn\u2019t until the staff was axed last week that AI content started being pushed out into the gaming news, reviews, and features sections as well. Older human bylines<\/a> from the site\u2019s 15-year history have been completely wiped out as well and overwritten with fake AI profiles.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s impossible to verify what content is or isn\u2019t generated with AI with complete accuracy, multiple AI checkers Kotaku used to verify the legitimacy of the Resident Evil Requiem review sounded alarm bells. It wasn\u2019t the only recent Videogamer review to get picked up by Metacritic either. A Recent Pok\u00e9mon FireRed and LeafGreen review, which was published on Videogamer and subsequently featured on Metacritic on February 23, has also been removed from the aggregator\u2019s roundup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Update; 2\/26\/2026, 3:06p.m. ET: After pulling the Resident Evil Requiem review from its score aggregator and roundup, Metacritic reportedly sent out a disclaimer<\/a> to gaming outlets that AI-generated reviews are banned and any it discovers will removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMetacritic has been a reputable review source for a quarter century and has maintained a rigorous vetting process when adding new publications to our slate of critics,\u201d Doyle told Kotaku in an emailed statement. \u201cHowever, in certain instances such as a publication being sold or a writing staff having turned over, problems can arise such as plagiarism, theft, or other forms of fraud including AI-generated reviews.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cMetacritic\u2019s policy is to never include an AI-generated critic review on Metacritic and if we discover that one has been posted, we\u2019ll remove it immediately and sever ties with that publication indefinitely pending a thorough investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Ethan Gach.\u00a0<\/p>\n