Why We Don't Take Paid Reviews

People ask us fairly often whether studios can pay to get on our lists or bump up a rating. The answer is no, and I want to explain why in plain terms.

The whole value of a review site is trust. The moment a score can be bought, every other score on the site becomes suspect too. We'd rather be a small independent site people believe than a big one nobody does.

That means we buy our own devices, pay for our own data, and install games ourselves like anyone else. If a studio sends us a code, we'll say so in the article, and it still gets the same honest treatment.

It also means some reviews are lukewarm or negative. That's fine. A site where everything scores above four out of five isn't reviewing anything, it's advertising.

If you ever read something here that feels like a sales pitch, call us out. Keeping us honest is part of the deal.