Whats this embargo about?

[Les Yeux De Ni ni]

I have nothing to know regarding this.

Could anybody explain?

[Karl Pilkington]

Review embargo means people cannot publish their review of the game on official outlets before a specific date. Usually is launch date.

[Les Yeux De Ni ni]

Originally posted by Karl Pilkington:

Review embargo means people cannot publish their review of the game on official outlets before a specific date. Usually is launch date.

Okay but why does this happen for this game?

[Karl Pilkington]

It happens for most games. Probably to keep any bad reviews from souring the launch sales.

[Les Yeux De Ni ni]

Originally posted by Karl Pilkington:

It happens for most games. Probably to keep any bad reviews from souring the launch sales.

alright.

[Latromi]

Review embargos are to keep the playing field even for reviewers.

Think of it from a reviewer standpoint.

Review copies are sent out. You get your review copy. If there was no embargo, then whoever gets their copy and finishes their review first is automatically going to get the most views/clicks/watches. Ad revenue is how most reviews sites and social media channels are getting income.

Instead, we have embargos. They have a date/time that reviews are permitted to go live. And many reviewers will try to have their review set to go live exactly at that time.

Obviously, not everyone who wants review copies can get them, and certain outlets will release reviews later than others for their own reasons.

It also benefits developers. With embargos, reviewers aren't rushing to "be the first", so in general the quality of reviews overall tend to be higher. The review scores themselves might not be higher, but developers can be more safely assured that a reviewer didn't only play 1-3 hours, barely skim the tutorial, and not even see all the major features before cranking out a review just so they could be the first one uploaded.

And, yes, it's also to boost pre-orders... or prevent pre-orders from being cancelled if they know the game isn't going to review well. Many poor quality games won't let reviews launch until the game does, or give only 24 hours prior to launch for reviews to go live. Other games get a few days or even a week or two. With the rise of online reviews, the distance from embargo to release has unfortunately dropped, so it's more difficult to use embargo to release period as a sign of confidence in the game from the publishers. But I would say any game that only gives 24 hours prior to launch is one to possibly be wary of before buying day 1.

[orthostatic]

pulling back my previous post. didn't realize "embargo" had connotations when it came to game reviews on this platform, don't want to disrupt thread.