Irrational job listing has Metacritic requirement

An Irrational job listing for a Design Manager requires at least one game shipped with a Metacritic score of 85 or higher.

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We've heard rumblings of Metacritic being used to dole out bonuses or to justify a sequel, but most of the time the review aggregate site isn't used to determine hiring practices. That line has been crossed now, as a new Irrational job listing requires that its applicants have a credit in at least one game with a Metacritic score of 85 or higher.

The job listing for a Design Manager requires more than 6 years in the game industry, experience with three titles, and a strong passion for first-person shooters. The Metacritic point is the last bullet amid an otherwise fairly standard list of requirements. It's unknown if this employee will be working on BioShock Infinite, or some other first-person shooter from Irrational.

Irrational does have a history with high-scoring games, with most of its titles scoring at or above an 85. It makes a certain kind of sense to attach a number requirement to assure studio consistency, but those who lament the pervasiveness of Metacritic might not be pleased if this becomes a trend.

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  • reply
    July 27, 2012 6:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Irrational job listing has Metacritic requirement.

    An Irrational job listing for a Design Manager requires at least one game shipped with a Metacritic score of 85 or higher.

    • reply
      July 27, 2012 6:48 AM

      Irrational indeed.

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      July 27, 2012 7:15 AM

      This would maybe be acceptable if every review site aggregated on Metacritic used the same scoring system and was held to the same standards of journalism, but as it is Metacritic scores seem pretty arbitrary.

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      July 27, 2012 7:43 AM

      Those who worked on Fallout New Vegas get short shrift again, since that game got an 84. No Metacritic incentive bonus from Bethesda, and Irrational's recruiters will glaze over them.

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      July 27, 2012 10:08 AM

      It is hard to believe any one would take metacritic seriously. All review scores are arbitrary to begin with and reviews themselves are far from objective. Not a single review uses the same system and because of that the aggregation is meaningless. You might see some coarse trending but beyond that it is pointless. Then on top of that you have people you game the system to 1-star review bomb and company's that buy reviews. Nice in theory but it just doesn't work.

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        July 27, 2012 12:49 PM

        How are users 1-star review bombing relevant? The industry only ever looks at the critic aggregate score for determining success/failure. Unless you're implying reviewers are gaming review scores?

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      July 27, 2012 11:35 AM

      lol!

      Who hired this hiring guy?

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        July 27, 2012 11:36 AM

        Job specs were Must own pinstriped suit.

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      July 27, 2012 11:46 AM

      lol, it looks like they've already changed the listing.

      What a ridiculous "requirement." There are so many extremely talented people in the industry that have not had the chance to work on an 85+ game for one reason or another, just like there are bad people that have worked on good games. So much of a game's quality has to do with the publishing requirements, budget, schedule, and overall managerial competence - things completely out of an individual developer's control.

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        July 27, 2012 11:52 AM

        [deleted]

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        July 29, 2012 8:58 PM

        No kidding. Most of the games I've worked on have been cheap, terrible ports, because that was the only work that was going at that point. Doesn't mean I or any of my workmates are terrible developers, just that we're given terrible projects.

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