Saber Interactive says: Ratings no longer determine the success of games

According to Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch, ratings are no longer important to selling video games. Karch explained this during the report for the fourth financial quarter of Embracer Group, the publisher behind Saber titles such as Evil Dead: The Game. On stage, people talked about the success of Evil Dead, which has already sold over half a million copies. The panel’s host asked Karch about the game’s solid, if not groundbreaking, ratings. We too gave the title an average rating, but by no means an outstanding one.

How much are ratings worth?

“In fact, we are positively surprised by the ratings“, replied Karch. The game would have far exceeded the internal expectations of the receptionist. “We’ve also learned that the days of a Metacritic rating determining how successful a game is are long gone. Games are sold through social media, through influencers, through attention.“

In addition, according to Karch, games are sold according to how good the product is, but not according to how good the ratings are. He can name numerous games with brilliant ratings that the publishers wish they had never published.

Karch not alone with his opinion

Actually, Matthew Karch is not alone with his perspective. Our colleague Karsten Scholz has also buffed for the a very detailed column with similar results written. The only difference here is that Karch does not seem to see this as a problem. There are undoubtedly also positive counter-examples, remember box office hits like Elden Ring, but the enormously high financial success of mediocre or bad games cannot be dismissed out of hand.