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So I’m going to not give direct attention to today’s terrible Cyberpunk take (this is a daily thing now) and instead talk about something related: the death of mainstream games criticism in Japan
You ever see a tweet showing an old Famitsu review from the 80s or 90s and say, “whoa, I can’t believe how harsh these reviewers were to these classic games?” That’s because, at the time, Famitsu had lots of competition and what set them apart was brutal, nitpicky criticism.
Of course, it wasn’t perfect — you’d still rarely see scores below a 4/10. But it helped them get attention, and they did get a lot of backlash similar to what you see when outlets “underscore” a big AAA release nowadays.
But that harsh critical eye meant that getting high scores from Famitsu was a badge of honor. When Saturn VF2 got near-perfect scores (39/40), it was a shock to many. When Zelda OOT got perfect scores, it was unprecedented.
So what happened, and why do you rarely see anything under 8s in Famitsu? And why do some notoriously bad games get passing or even extremely high scores? Simple: most of the other big print gaming media died or consolidated. Once that happened, publishers had more power.
If you think Western game review NDAs offer a lot of control to the publishers, it’s even worse in Japan, and copyright law there is on their side. You remember Atlus Japan forbidding Persona 5 streaming? That came from JP publishers being used to wielding that power over there.
Famitsu has almost all the power in JP print game media now, but that also means they are extremely beholden to the publishers for scoops and previews. There’s nobody else around to force them to do better aside from a disconnected group of internet nerds.
So be thankful for the variety of opinions and voices we have in the English-speaking games media. When you want a thoughtless, uncritical monolith, you get situations like we’re seeing with Cyberpunk now.
(If you want a good example of something similar playing out re:Famitsu, read about JJBA All Star Battle, which was lauded by Famitsu but hated by fans for its microtransaction-laden online play and weak story mode, which Famitsu reviews neglected to bring up!)
I TAKE IT ALL BACK, THESE 1988 SCORES FOR YOUMAIS ARE WAAAAAY TOO HIGH, WTF (the 4 sounds about right tho)
