Day one game reviews are done by publishers by coordinating with media outlets and give them advance copies of whatever it is they are about to publish. This way, the review is ready during launch day. This has been a trend for most games but one company decides to stop the practice for good.
Gary Steinman wrote on their official blog page at Bethesda that after the launch of Doom early this year, they have now implemented a strict company policy to not supply review copies of their games to the media unless it is a day prior to rolling out the particular game. With the new policy, reviewers now only have 24 hours to play the game and make a review out of it.
This is an obvious move by Bethesda since they have had some negative rapport towards reviewers and the press recently as reported by Gamasutra. Another reason is that the company wants to lessen gameplay streams before the game is even released thus having a small window from the handing over of the advance copy.
Contrary to the implemented policy, some reviewers already got early copies of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Special Edition to YouTubers which showed a couple hours of gameplay. Reportedly, these people are less likely to be critical about the game. Bethesda isn't the only company who is possibly doing this move as Blizzard hasn't sent advanced review copies for two years now. 2K and Warner Bros. Interactive have also been said to be hesitant.
Bethesda may be interested in bottlenecking discussions if the review copies are significantly delayed. This has also been mentioned by Steinam while spreading the news about Doom's success. The exact words posted are:
"We sent review copies to arrive the day before launch, which led to speculation about the quality of the game," Steinam writes. "Since then Doom has emerged as a critical and commercial hit, and is now one of the highest-rated shooters of the past few years."
What do you think about this movement? Is it fair for both company and consumers? Let us know with your comments below.
