Having come in for major criticism over the past couple of years following a policy change in 2016 that meant review copies of its latest games would only be available immediately before launch, Bethesda review policy has been updated once again to give the media more time with its latest titles.
Commenting on the recent change, Bethesda’s Pete Hines said:
We were tired of reading reviews where the first paragraph spent more time talking about our review policy than the game. So we decided we’re not going to keep drawing attention to it – we’ll send out copies and maybe people will start talking about the game instead of talking about policies.
Bethesda Review Policy: Why the Change in the First Place?
The initial decision to start sending out review copies far closer to or on release day always seemed a bit cynical to some. A way of avoiding any negative pre-launch press that might hurt sales figures.
Bethesda, on the other hand, always claimed it was about ensuring everyone had access to its latest games at roughly the same time, whilst also offering greater transparency between developer and player.
But, as Hines alluded to above, the decision merely resulted in a stream of reviews in which the first paragraph was almost always devoted to the studio’s review policy. Not the game in question.
Fast forward to 2018 and, having just about had their fill of passive-aggressive griping, Bethesda has decided to adopt a more standard approach to pre-release coverage:
We put out Evil Within 2 and sent it out to press well in advance, and we did the same thing for Wolfenstein 2. Then there were other games that we sent out at launch. I think we’re going to continue to evaluate what makes the most sense.
In the case of Elder Scrolls Online, we don’t have a choice. Fallout 76 is the same way, it’s a server – the game is either up or it’s not. We will continue to figure out what makes the most sense.
We’re constantly iterating and re-evaluating. It just didn’t make sense.
Expect to see plenty of pre-release coverage on PSU for Doom: Eternal and Fallout 76, in other words. And, looking further ahead, The Elder Scrolls VI and Starfield, too.
Source: VG247