Bethesda wants your money before the reviews hit

Bethesda is kneecapping reviews of its upcoming games this year — that’s The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition and Dishonored 2 — all but ensuring you won’t find reviews before they hit shelves and, in the publisher’s ideal scenario, before your credit card is charged for that pre-order.

It’s the publisher’s job to sell as many copies of each game as possible. It can be helpful if the game is good, but in other situations the quality barely matters. What matters is that the company brings in more money in sales than it cost to make the game.

Bethesda has taken what was likely a good, long look at its prospects at selling games, and made the decision that early reviews don’t matter. The reviews may be positive, they may be negative, but Bethesda has decided that removing itself from the early review process made the most business sense.

“Earlier this year we released Doom,” Gary Steinman, Bethesda’s global content lead and former editor-in-chief of GamesRadar and PlayStation: The Official Magazine, wrote in a company blog post. “We sent review copies to arrive the day before launch, which led to speculation about the quality of the game. 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.”

Translation: We have proven that the timing of reviews has no connection to the quality of the game.

“With the upcoming launches of Skyrim Special Edition and Dishonored 2, we will continue our policy of sending media review copies one day before release,” Steinman continues. “While we will continue to work with media, streamers, and YouTubers to support their coverage — both before and after release — we want everyone, including those in the media, to experience our games at the same time.”

This move will make reviews worse, overall. It’s possible some outlets may decide to rush through Bethesda’s games to get their review up first and soak up as much of that sweet, sweet search traffic as they can. There will be a very real business incentive to get your review up as soon as possible. The larger outlets have less to lose by taking their time and providing ongoing coverage, and we can also expect pre-release streams and leaks to become more common.

Bethesda is saying that it really cares about reviews and it’s going to show that love by wiping out any chance players will have to learn about the quality of a game before it’s released. If you want to give them money before you know if the game is good or bad, or if it even works, what the hell? It’s your money. They can’t stop you.

“We also understand that some of you want to read reviews before you make your decision, and if that’s the case we encourage you to wait for your favorite reviewers to share their thoughts,” the post reads.

Bethesda’s goal is to limit information that it doesn’t control in order to sell more copies. This is its play to do so. To paint this as anything other than being consumer- and press-hostile requires some pretty hefty spin. If you see coverage of a game through official channels before the release of the review or press embargo, keep in mind that Bethesda considers that coverage to be marketing. There are streams of Skyrim Special Edition taking place right now, in fact, though it isn’t available until Friday.

Our advice is the same as it has always been: Don’t pre-order games. Don’t give them any money until you’re comfortable with the reviews, YouTube coverage or message board discussion of the game. Bethesda wants your money more than anything else, and this is the company’s way of minimizing risk. Vote accordingly.