Understanding our methodology, data sources, and chart views
Dataset Scope and Provenance
The public pages form a continuously updated collection of normalized review evidence, organized by game, journalist, and outlet.
ReviewDisparity publishes source-linked comparisons between professional video game review scores and Steam and Metacritic user scores. The dataset is free to browse without an account. It includes normalized scores, source-specific disparities, review timing, sample context when available, and the underlying review records shown on eligible detail pages.
Games
20,050
Journalists
10,690
Outlets
734
Reviews
279,306
Publisher and creator
ReviewDisparity, an independent data publisher not affiliated with the source services or represented publications and journalists.
Access and terms
Publicly accessible without payment. Use is governed by the site terms.
Update status
Source records are synchronized regularly. The site statistics report a latest update of .
Canonical evidence
Canonical game, journalist, and outlet pages are the authoritative site records. Each eligible page exposes recent evidence in HTML and links to original review publishers where available.
What You Can Explore
The rules and methodology stay the same. The newer additions are extra ways to inspect the same disparity data in more detail.
Review disparity measures the difference between how professional game critics score a game versus how regular players rate it. A positive disparity means critics scored a game higher than players did, while a negative disparity means critics scored lower than players.
+15Positive Disparity
Critics rated the game 15 points higher than players on average. The number establishes disagreement, but does not by itself explain the cause or establish bias.
-15Negative Disparity
Critics rated the game 15 points lower than players. This could mean critics were harsher, or players found unexpected value in the game.
Note: What matters most is the magnitude of the disparity (how far from users), not the direction. A disparity of +15 or -15 both indicate a significant gap between critics and players.
Understanding Our Colors
Our color system is based on the magnitude of disparity. This helps you quickly identify how aligned or divergent a critic is with players.
±0-5
Aligned- Critic is closely aligned with user opinions
±5-10
Moderate- Some divergence from user scores
±10-15
High- Significant divergence from users
±15+
Extreme- Major divergence from user opinions
The +/- sign still tells you the direction, but the color indicates magnitude. A +3 and -3 are both green because they are both closely aligned with users.
The Formula
Step 1 - Per-review disparity
Disparity = Critic Score - User Score
Calculated separately for Steam and Metacritic on every review.
Step 2 - Combined disparity
Combined = (Steam Disparity + MC Disparity) / 2
The simple average of Steam and Metacritic disparities. If only one source is available, that source is used directly as the combined score.
Steam Disparity = Critic Score - Steam User Score
MC Disparity = Critic Score - Metacritic User Score
Combined = (Steam Disparity + MC Disparity) / 2
Step 3 - Journalist and outlet averages
Avg Disparity = mean of all launch window review disparities
For journalists and outlets, we average the combined disparity across all qualifying launch window reviews. Steam and Metacritic averages are calculated independently, then the combined score is the average of those two source averages.
Review Timing Categories
We categorize reviews based on when they were published relative to a game's release date. This helps identify review patterns and ensures fair disparity calculations.
Early Review
Reviews published before the game's official release date.
Launch Window
Reviews published within 60 days of release. This is the primary disparity window shown on profiles.
Late Review
Reviews published more than 60 days after release.
Why 60 days? This window captures the period when most professional reviews are published and when user scores are most actively being submitted.
About early reviews: Early reviews are included in disparity calculations and count toward the launch window, but they are marked separately.
Primary vs. Overall Disparity
Each journalist and outlet has two disparity metrics calculated:
Launch Window Disparity (Primary)
Calculated only from reviews published within 60 days of each game's release. This is the main metric shown on profile pages and used for leaderboard rankings.
Overall Disparity (Secondary)
Calculated from all reviews, including late reviews. Used as a fallback when a journalist or outlet has no qualifying launch window reviews.
Transparency note: On profile pages, you can see how many reviews fall within the launch window versus late reviews.
Quality Thresholds
To ensure statistical reliability and prevent manipulation, we apply minimum thresholds.
50
Minimum Steam user reviews
Games need at least 50 Steam user reviews before Steam counts in disparity calculations.
20
Minimum Metacritic user reviews
Games need at least 20 Metacritic user reviews before Metacritic counts in disparity calculations.
10
Minimum scored reviews for journalists and outlets
Journalists and outlets need at least 10 scored reviews to qualify for leaderboard-style ranking.
10
Minimum critic reviews for games leaderboard
Games need at least 10 critic reviews to appear on the games leaderboard.
10
Minimum score spread
Journalists and outlets need a score spread of at least 10 to avoid binary or overly narrow scoring patterns distorting the rankings.
Note: Individual profiles can still exist even if they do not qualify for leaderboard inclusion.
Score Normalization
Different outlets use different scoring scales. To compare apples to apples, all scores are normalized to a 0-100 scale.
Cross-platform user ratings converted from a 0–10 scale to 0–100.
Three Disparity Scores
We show disparity separately for each user score source so you can see how critics compare to different player communities.
S
Steam Disparity
Critic Score - Steam User Score Compares critic reviews against Steam's PC gaming audience.
M
Metacritic Disparity
Critic Score - Metacritic User Score Compares critic reviews against Metacritic's broader cross-platform user audience.
C
Combined Disparity
(Steam Disparity + MC Disparity) / 2 Averages the two source disparities when both exist. If only one source is available, that source is used directly.
Score Spread vs. Disparity
On journalist and outlet profiles, these measure different things.
Disparity
How far the critic's scores are from user scores.
Critic Score - User Score
Score Spread
How varied the critic's own scores are.
Standard Deviation of Critic Scores
High Score Spread (10+): Uses a meaningful range of scores.
Low Score Spread (<10): Can indicate binary or overly narrow scoring patterns, which is why these reviewers are filtered from leaderboard rankings.
How to Read the Charts
These are additional views on top of the same scoring rules above.
What the lines mean
Solid colored line
Rolling average for the active series inside the selected view.
Light dotted baseline
The light dotted horizontal line is the 0 baseline. Above it means critics scored higher than users. Below it means critics scored lower.
Colored dotted connector
The colored dotted line marks the change from the first visible review to the last visible review in the selected release window for that series.
060
Vertical dashed release markers
On game Release Map views, day 0 marks launch and day 60 marks the end of the launch window.
Disparity Trend
Shows the direction and magnitude of critic-to-user gaps over time.
Sage, orange, and rust identify Steam, Metacritic, and Combined series.
Hover points and tooltips reveal the underlying review values behind the rolling averages.
Release Map / Score Map
On game pages, the x-axis is days from release and the y-axis is disparity.
On journalist and outlet pages, the x-axis becomes critic score while the y-axis stays disparity.
Each point is one review.
Review Timing
The donut splits reviews into Early, Launch Window, and Late.
Early means before release, Launch Window means within 60 days, and Late means more than 60 days after release.
The center number is the total review count represented by the chart.
Reception Story
Game detail pages combine release events, reviews, milestones, and linked news into a single timeline.
Use it to understand what happened around a launch instead of reading the disparity number in isolation.
Journalist Scoring Pattern
Each square is one review from the journalist.
Rust means the critic scored above users, sage means below users, and neutral tiles sit near parity.
You can sort chronologically or by disparity and filter to a single year.
Outlet Activity Stream
Groups an outlet's reviews by month or quarter.
Rust bands are more generous-than-users reviews, tan bands are aligned, and sage bands are more critical-than-users reviews.
You can focus on a single journalist and select a time range to filter the review stream below.
Data Coverage
Time Period
We track all available review data from OpenCritic, going back to the earliest reviews in their database.
Update Frequency
Critic reviews are synced continuously. User scores from Steam and Metacritic are updated regularly. Historical disparity data powers the trend charts and new story views.
Interpreting the Data
High disparity does not mean "wrong": critics and players often have different priorities.
Direction vs. magnitude: the sign (+/-) tells you whether the critic scored higher or lower than users, but the magnitude is what matters most.
Sample size matters: a journalist with 5 reviews will be less reliable than one with 500.
Check score spread: low spread means a reviewer may give similar scores to almost everything, which can make disparity less meaningful.
Compare sources: a journalist might be aligned with Steam users but divergent from Metacritic users, or vice versa.
Publishing Principles and Limitations
How the site separates source facts, calculations, and interpretation.
Deterministic calculations
Source scores are normalized and compared using the formulas documented on this page. ReviewDisparity does not rewrite a publisher's score to make a result more or less favorable.
Attribution and corrections
Recent evidence links to original review publishers where a source URL is available. When upstream records or parsing corrections change, the public calculations and freshness dates update with the synchronized data.
What disparity can say
Disparity measures the direction and size of score disagreement. It does not prove motive, bias, credibility, review quality, or whether either audience is correct.
Audience and timing limits
Steam and Metacritic represent different player populations, platforms, and rating systems. User sentiment and sample sizes can change after a critic review, so source-specific values and dates should be read together.
