Support NeoGAF

toythatkills · Jan 28, 2015

There seems to be some huge misunderstanding here, so this is just a quick thread to try and kill this stupid rumour dead.

So it goes like this: people believe that Sony will only add games to PlayStation Plus if they score above 70 on metacritic. This is in spite of all evidence to the contrary, such as various games being added to PlayStation Plus which scored below 70 on metacritic.

Still, though, the rumour persists.

It started with PR like this: http://uk.playstation.com/psn/news/articles/detail/item545235/Get-a-taste-of-PlayStation-Plus/

Thanks to PlayStation Plus, millions of gamers can enjoy top-rated* PS3 and PS Vita games at no extra cost. We add new titles regularly as well as providing you with tons more special offers on some of the hottest titles around.

* Top rated is based on a Metacritic rating of 70+.

Sony say that, and things like it, and so people assumed that it meant that every game on PS+ had to have a metacritic of over 70 or they would be BANNED. Then so many people say it that everyone starts to believe it. In fact, all it means is that some games on PS+ have a metacritic over 70, and you can enjoy them, but it mentions nothing at all of any firm requirement, nor does it state that every game on the service is 70+.

This isn't a change in policy, this "requirement" never existed. I'm sure Sony aim to have games on PS+ with as high a metacritic as possible so most titles will just naturally be 70+, but can we stop pretending that this is a thing, now?

Rembrandt · Jan 28, 2015

This is my first time hearing the rumor.

Wario64 · Jan 28, 2015

Cool? Didn't know people thought this was a thing to begin with

Give War A Chance · Jan 28, 2015

Never heard of this rumor before. Weird. Doesn't really make sense to me, anyway, so I can't say I'm shocked to learn of this.

Floridian · Jan 28, 2015

I never heard of this, but good to know.

Weeaboosuke · Jan 28, 2015

I didn't even know this was a thing before now.

Veritigo_X · Jan 28, 2015

There probably isn't any hard line they draw to decide what does and doesn't become a free PS+ game, but I'm sure they take ratings into account when deciding.

toythatkills · Jan 28, 2015

Rembrandt said:
This is my first time hearing the rumor.

Wario64 said:
Cool? Didn't know people thought this was a thing to begin with

Give War A Chance said:
Never heard of this rumor before.

etc

Maybe I read too many PS+ threads :lol

Freedom = $1.05 · Jan 28, 2015

Wario64 said:
Cool? Didn't know people thought this was a thing to begin with

then have i got a thread for you

HORRORSHØW · Jan 28, 2015

knack ps+ incoming?

SuperSonic1305 · Jan 28, 2015

Is there a list of sub 70 games that weren't new releases?

zeroyazi · Jan 28, 2015

jk, silly people

reptilescorpio · Jan 28, 2015

SuperSonic1305 said:
Is there a list of sub 70 games that weren't new releases?

Vita had a few, don't have the list handy sorry

xxracerxx · Jan 28, 2015

Hero Prinny · Jan 28, 2015

didn't even know this was a rumor. i honestly thought otherwise as in, they'd let any piece of doodoo in (still salty about a slot being wasted on foosball)

2+2=5 · Jan 28, 2015

Sorry but i don't believe this, even putting that clear PR apart, imo it changed recently because in the PS+ past there were no bad games, i guess that an exception to the rule should be applied to d1 games since they still have no reviews.

JumpJeff84 · Jan 28, 2015

News to me

oti · Jan 28, 2015

toythatkills said:
Maybe I read too many PS+ threads :lol

Oh no, I too got the impressions that this was the case. Every time people speculate about the upcoming PS+ titles this rule comes up.

benny_a · Jan 28, 2015

toythatkills said:
This isn't a change in policy, this "requirement" never existed. I'm sure Sony aim to have games on PS+ with as high a metacritic as possible so most titles will just naturally be 70+, but can we stop pretending that this is a thing, now?

I will do one better and not even start believing this is a thing, captain!

AzureSkies · Jan 28, 2015

Knack PS+ stealth announcement thread.

SerTapTap · Jan 28, 2015

2+2=5 said:
Sorry but i don't believe this, even putting that clear PR apart, imo it changed recently because in the PS+ past there were no bad games, i guess that an exception to the rule should be applied to d1 games since they still have no reviews.

They manually select them, I'm sure they wouldn't deliberately select generally poorly received titles, I doubt they'd use Metacritic as a hard measure though.

LonelyGreyWolf · Jan 28, 2015

"huge misunderstanding"

No one on GAF has ever even heard the misunderstanding before.

Camjo-Z · Jan 28, 2015

Chronovolt proved it wasn't true a looong time ago.

AndyD · Jan 28, 2015

SuperSonic1305 said:
Is there a list of sub 70 games that weren't new releases?

Here's the Google Drive doc with all the games.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AguesZ0CXzHLdFdnMl9XYmJvSUlzLUFlTlRjNFk2YUE#gid=0

After a quick skim, Fatal Inertia, Rock of Ages, Zombie Tycoon 2 were not day one PS+.

Then again I don't know if the score on this sheet is recorded as of release date on PS+ or what. And for some games there were more reviews for other platforms on meacritic, which always throws things off as reviewers generally only look at one version, not all.

All in all though, the quality has been fairly high is we take metacritic as a gauge.

Seth · Jan 28, 2015

I have heard this rumor before.

Kandrick · Jan 28, 2015

SuperSonic1305 said:
Is there a list of sub 70 games that weren't new releases?

Modnation Racers Vita
Dynasty Warriors Next Vita
F1 Race Stars
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North
Touch My Katamari.

All sub 70 and they got added to PS+ after 2-3 months or 2-3 years after their release. And there's probably more.

toythatkills · Jan 28, 2015

LonelyGreyWolf said:
"huge misunderstanding"

No one on GAF has ever even heard the misunderstanding before.

I should probably edit that to "incredibly minor misunderstanding," yeah.

But seriously, this fictional "criteria" is brought up every single month when the PS+ games are due to be announced, and it's getting really boring trying to explain to people every time that they're wrong and it's not a real thing.

Bobs Big Boy · Jan 28, 2015

I mean, to seek out a relatively good or even average game that would promote the service, based on how games are rated, everything will fall above 70+ anyway.

Noobcraft · Jan 28, 2015

Grimløck;149549591 said:
knack ps+ incoming?

Cisce said:
Knack PS+ stealth announcement thread.

.

GribbleGrunger · Jan 28, 2015

Why is this appearing now!? What did Thief score on metacritic?

edit: 67! I'm calling it now, Thief is on PS+ next month.

Withnail · Jan 28, 2015

toythatkills said:
There seems to be some huge misunderstanding here, so this is just a quick thread to try and kill this stupid rumour dead.

So it goes like this: people believe that Sony will only add games to PlayStation Plus if they score above 70 on metacritic. This is in spite of all evidence to the contrary, such as various games being added to PlayStation Plus which scored below 70 on metacritic.

Still, though, the rumour persists.

It started with PR like this: http://uk.playstation.com/psn/news/articles/detail/item545235/Get-a-taste-of-PlayStation-Plus/

Sony say that, and things like it, and so people assumed that it meant that every game on PS+ had to have a metacritic of over 70 or they would be BANNED. Then so many people say it that everyone starts to believe it. In fact, all it means is that some games on PS+ have a metacritic over 70, and you can enjoy them, but it mentions nothing at all of any firm requirement, nor does it state that every game on the service is 70+.

This isn't a change in policy, this "requirement" never existed. I'm sure Sony aim to have games on PS+ with as high a metacritic as possible so most titles will just naturally be 70+, but can we stop pretending that this is a thing, now?

Agreed, also this was only ever stated in the EU at a time when the NA and EU PS+ offerings were completely independent. Absolutely no reason to think there's currently an official PSN policy on this. In fact, like you said it's just forum hearsay.

toythatkills · Jan 28, 2015

GribbleGrunger said:
Why is this appearing now!? What did Thief score on metacritic?

edit: 67! I'm calling it now, Thief is on PS+ next month.

Yeah, Thief is looking very likely but people were like "nah, can't be, it didn't get 70 on metacritic."

Stevey · Jan 28, 2015

First I've heard of it.

GribbleGrunger · Jan 28, 2015

toythatkills said:
Yeah, Thief is looking very likely but people were like "nah, can't be, it didn't get 70 on metacritic."

Ah, so I did put 2+2 together and make 4! I thought so.

Volcane · Jan 28, 2015

I'd heard it mentioned before, most notably with some saying Knack not being able to be a PS+ game, because of it's review scores.

I wouldn't mind if Knack becomes PS+, as I don't imagine buying it otherwise.

Willy Wanka · Jan 28, 2015

I've seen it mentioned in multiple PSN+ threads. It would be a stupid requirement anyway because some sub-70 rated Metacritic games are very much worth playing if you are a fan of that genre.

Jawbreaker · Jan 28, 2015

Cornbread78 · Jan 28, 2015

Wow, can we make this a huge issue and start blowing up the press as a non-issue like deflategate? I mean that would be pretty cool, lol.

Honestly, I just appreciate the higher quality games we get that I wouldn't have bought on my own. I really don't care if it scored a 67 Metacritic, or a 95.

Acquiescence · Jan 28, 2015

Does that mean all those people out there who want Knack to come to PS+ can now breathe a sigh of relief?

inki · Jan 28, 2015

Looks like two faced PR speak.. " can enjoy top-rated* PS3 and PS Vita games at no extra cost." It just means you CAN be given access to free games that rate above 70 on MC. As well it could also mean there is at least 1 70+ MC game given out per month..

Can does not = will

Tidus_Great · Jan 28, 2015

how many games score below 70 anyways? It has to be niche or very horrible to even obtain such a score.

Always-honest · Jan 28, 2015

Rembrandt said:
This is my first time hearing the rumor.

Haha, same here.

mdubs · Jan 28, 2015

Knack incoming

mr2xxx · Jan 28, 2015

Never made sense since they have games that debut on PS+.

Spine_Ripper · Jan 28, 2015

I don't believe half of you saying you've never heard this before.

That or I also frequent too many PS+ threads

Orca · Jan 28, 2015

Is there actually a list of games that were on PS3/PS4 PS+ and scored below 70%?

FranXico · Jan 28, 2015

Well, considering the amount of indie games that are announced to be included in the subscription at their launch, at which time no metacritic rating even exists, it's pretty obvious that this imaginary 70+ metacritic requirement never was enforced.

westman · Jan 29, 2015

2+2=5 said:
Sorry but i don't believe this, even putting that clear PR apart, imo it changed recently because in the PS+ past there were no bad games, i guess that an exception to the rule should be applied to d1 games since they still have no reviews.

They used to say that you would get top-rated games (defined as 70+ Metacritic) every month, which is a stronger statement than the one quoted by OP, but still allows some lower-rated games (as long as there were at least two top-rated ones available as well).

Jonnax · Jan 29, 2015

What are the below 70 games? How many of them are there?

TetraGenesis · Jan 29, 2015

I've definitely heard this rumor before, OP. Don't let everybody get you down.

Support NeoGAF

There is no "70+ metacritic" requirement for PS+, and there never was.

Member

Banned

works for Gamestop (lol)

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Member

Member

Banned

Member

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.

Member

The Amiga Brotherhood

Member

Banned

extra source of jiggaflops

Member

Member

Banned

Member

aka andydumi

Member

GAF's Ed McMahon

Member

Member

Member

Dreams in Digital

Member

Member

Member

Dreams in Digital

Member

my god this avatar owns

Member

Member

Member

Member

Banned

Banned

Banned

Banned

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads