236 Should Video Game Critics Be Less Negative?

The free to play horse shooter Highguard released this week, and within 5 minutes, the entire Internet agreed that it sucks. Coincidentally(?), the CEO of Larian Studios posted a lengthy comment about how criticism of video games has become too mean and too personal, which discourages artists from taking risks and failing.This week, we unpack the discourse around hot take negativity, the process of being vulnerable as an artist, and why the business model of algorithmic media pushes so many of us into the trap.Links discussed in this episode:https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/baldurs-gate-3-studio-boss-calls-out-hurtful-personal-videogame-reviewers-sometimes-i-think-itd-be-a-good-idea-for-critics-to-be-scored-metacritic-stylehttps://www.dexerto.com/gaming/highguard-devs-say-they-didnt-expect-the-hate-but-theyre-confident-in-their-game-3309463/ Join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/5xz84B9RRJ Subscribe to the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ColetteAndMattEmail us with what you're playing and we'll read it on the show! [email protected] Follow and subscribe to Colette:https://bsky.app/profile/itscocobee.bsky.socialhttps://www.twitch.tv/hellococobeeFollow and subscribe to Matt:https://bsky.app/profile/mattsilverman.bsky.socialhttps://www.patreon.com/influencepodhttps://www.youtube.com/c/freedadvideosOur theme music is by Azure Flux: https://azureflux.bandcamp.com/Our logo is illustrated by @JustCallMeKatarina: https://www.instagram.com/justcallmekatarina/