Riccitiello slams "cult" game reviewing

Someone had to say it. EA CEO John Riccitiello has claimed some games get 100 percent reviews despite the fact people don't play them properly, a factor the publisher doesn't benefit from. It was as if he was saying the majority of games reviewers are untalented, me-too lemmings afraid to have an opinion about anything. But maybe we're putting words into his mouth.

"All Metacritics were higher once upon a time because it was ten professionals rating them. Now, sort of anybody with a pen can rate them and it ends up with a bit of a wider track some times," said the exec, talking at the William Blair & Company's 28th Annual Growth Stock Conference yesterday.

"EA doesn't usually get the benefit of the cult - 'everybody has to rate it a hundred' thing going on - that happens sometimes even when they may not, based on the review, have played more than the first fifteen minutes of the game. But that's a separate issue."

Thanks, GI.