The COO of former Halo developer Bungie has said it is “difficult” to review persistently online video games.
Speaking during an interview with GI.biz, Pete Parsons questioned how reviewers are going to tackle connected titles—such as the company’s own shared-world shooter, Destiny—going forward.
“It is true there are a lot of those people who were sceptical that are still playing it now,” commented Parsons.
“As we see games like Destiny coming out, it’s very difficult to sit down for nine hours, 11 hours, and write up a review of a game like Destiny, right?
“If I were a reviewer it seems like a nearly impossible challenge to do because there’s just no way. You barely experience sort of the campaign side of it and just PvP and no way you can get into all of the end game activities.
“So it really asks a great question which is ‘how are games like Destiny going to be reviewed in the future?’”
Traditionally, game reviewers receive copies of titles prior to release to allow sufficient time for review. However, with Destiny, the games press were not given early access to code, instead having to review the title after general release.
This will also be the case for The Crew, Ubisoft’s upcoming open-world racer for PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One. So, don’t expect reviews for that game to go live until after the public get their mitts on the title.