Review aggregates are one of the first ways that people engage with new media. In games, two aggregators have driven the conversation, and now, a new aggregator is entering the ring: CriticDB.
CriticDB is a new video game review aggregation and game discovery platform aiming to do more than just aggregate reviews, and it’s officially launched today. CriticDB aims to go beyond traditional aggregation with features aimed at players, developers, PR, and games media. However, core to their ethos is empowering independent outlets that are traditionally not included in review round-ups or Top Critic designations.
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The site’s dedication to providing its critics with equal visibility is included in its FAQ around not having a Top Critic feature: “We determined that a Top Critic/Voice designation gave favoritism to outlets and pushed smaller voices further down. To be fair and to help readers find new Outlets, we don’t plan on implementing this.”
CriticDB is also launching with a variety of features they’ve noted are essential to building a platform and community around game discovery:
- Independent Pages for Games – Critic/User Reviews, Previews, Similar Games, and more.
- Outlet/Creator Pages – Follow your favorite outlets and Creators for notifications of new reviews.
- Browse Aggregate Game Scores across platforms, genres, developers, and more.
- The community can create missing game pages and link similar games together.
- Create & Share your Favorites, Wishlists, Played, Beaten, and more with Lists!
- Share your thoughts on the latest games (and those from your backlog) with User Reviews (Pro-Only)
- Earn EXP and Badges, with leaderboards for the users with the most games created and linked.
For those in games media and PR, CriticDB offers the following:
- (For Outlets) Manage your Outlet page and Team to start, including information that makes it easier for PR to find you.
- (For Authors) Claim your author page and display your Critic Reviews & Previews alongside your lists and User Reviews.
- (For PR) Get access to the best contacts for each outlet, and tools to find Outlets easier.
CriticDB launches with more than 75 Outlets’ reviews being aggregated. Butwhytho.net was honored to be among those included. The platform also garnered feedback from many ahead of launch to fine-tune and improve the platform. At launch, the database will include 20,000 reviews across over 2,000 game pages.
While offering a chance for independent outlets to grab more visibility, CritcDB will be open to accepting new outlets that meet its criteria. Once accepted, Outlets can verify their authors and add reviews and previews to the platform, with Awards and other content types to be added as features in the future.
In their press release, Co-Founder Rutledge Daugette explained the goal of CriticDB, “I wanted to build a place that could uplift both Games and Outlets, leveraging both to create an ecosystem of game discovery. Along that same vein, we wanted this platform to become a way that Outlets and PR could enhance how they connect and work together to cover more titles.”
CriticDB has also launched with both free and paid user accounts. A part of their model allows anyone to interact and use the platform for free, and those who wish to support the vision or create user reviews can upgrade.
CriticDB’s long-term vision is to work with those in and around the industry to improve the platform, with plans to build a “CriticDB Council” of 10 journalists annually to help recommend features that can help the industry across Journalism, PR, and Development.
More importantly, though, in the current landscape, a look at CriticDB’s FAQ will show that “This site will be 100% built by humans,” showing the aggregator taking a solid stance against the growing use of AI.
Applications are now open for Outlets (and Creators) looking to be included on the platform.
