Suda51 Thinks Gamers Pay Too Much Attention to Metacritic Scores

Key Takeaways

• Suda51 criticizes gaming industry’s reliance on Metacritic scores, leading to formulaic games.
• Grasshopper Manufacture focuses on originality over chasing trends for game development.

Metacritic is an important site for many gamers looking to gauge their interest in a game, but No More Heroes creator Goichi Suda, who goes by the nickname Suda51, thinks putting too much investment in the site is harmful to the industry. As Suda works on the upcoming remaster for his PS3-era title Shadows of the Damned with his studio Grasshopper Manufacture, he took the time to call out the gaming industry for leaning too heavily on formulas to avoid bad critical scores.

Goichi Suda is the president and founder of Grasshopper Manufacture, a Japanese game developer known for the hack-and-slash action-adventure series No More Heroes. He has also worked with Resident Evil co-creator Shinji Mikami on the surreal spy shooter Killer7 before the two paired up once more for Shadows of the Damned, which is now set to get a remaster.

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry, Suda called out the gaming industry for its over-dependence on Metacritic review scores, which often directly correlate with a game’s commercial success. Suda, who spoke alongside longtime collaborative partner Shinji Mikami, said that a desire to chase good review scores on sites like Metacritic creates a formula that makes it hard for more unique games to succeed.

Suda51 Explains Grasshopper Manufacture’s Focus on Originality

Suda said he doesn’t put much stock in review scores and instead prefers to focus his efforts on creating games that he is proud of and believes fans will want to play, rather than chasing trends or trying to appeal to a broader audience. Suda’s sentiment is seemingly shared by Mikami, who left Capcom to found Tango Gameworks, the developer behind the critical darling Hi-Fi Rush.

Despite its recent success, however, Tango Gameworks, who also made the survival-horror franchise The Evil Within, faced turmoil after being closed down following its acquisition by Microsoft, reportedly due to its failure to meet the company’s lofty expectations. Fortunately for fans, though, South Korean publisher Krafton stepped in to acquire the studio, but Microsoft retains the rights to many of its IPs.

As for Suda, he recently oversaw the release of the much-anticipated Lollipop Chainsaw RePop, which brings one of Grasshopper’s more well-known games to modern hardware and a brand-new engine. He is also currently at work on an upcoming remaster for Shadows of the Damned alongside Mikami, who are both reportedly excited about having a second chance to bring the game to a new audience.