Don’t Count Final Fantasy 16 Out For Game Of The Year Based On Its Metascore
Final Fantasy 16, the RPG by Square Enix exclusive to PlayStation 5, was released last Thursday and has received positive reviews from both players and critics. The game currently has a healthy Metascore of 88. However, it ranks at 22nd place among games released this year, with Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom being the current leader with a score of 96, two points ahead of second-placed Metroid Prime Remastered.
Despite this seemingly low ranking, one analyst urges Final Fantasy fans not to give up hope for the game’s Game of the Year contention, citing recent history to make his point.
YouTuber NIXNE pointed out on his Twitter account that EA and Hazelight Studios’ action-adventure game, It Takes Two, was in a similar situation in 2021 when it won the top prize at The Game Awards, despite having a Metascore of 88. His post reads, “This is for the people who keep saying Final Fantasy XVI won’t win GOTY because it scored an 88 on Metacritic. In 2021, It Takes Two won GOTY and was NOT the highest-rated game that year. The highest Metascore does not equal GOTY.”
Review scores may also be misleading as there is evidence of review bombing, particularly from longtime series fans who are not comfortable with the game’s new direction. On Metacritic alone, there are currently 1,222 positive user reviews, 78 mixed reviews, and 540 negative reviews, including 80 that gave it either a zero or a one.
It is still six months until The Game Awards, and there are still many games yet to be released that could contend with Final Fantasy 16 or even Tears of the Kingdom. We will have to wait until December to see which games will have a chance at Game of the Year.
Final Fantasy 16 pays homage to an old fan favorite party member, and fans are excited to see how the game progresses.
Final Fantasy 16, the PlayStation 5 exclusive RPG from Square Enix that released this past Thursday, has earned mostly positive reviews from players and professional critics alike, leaving it with a pretty healthy Metascore of 88, currently. That’s still a long way down from the current king of the 2023 charts, Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which is riding high with a score of 96, a full two points ahead of second place Metroid Prime Remastered.
While an 88 is nothing to sneeze at, it sets Final Fantasy 16 all the way down in 22nd place among games released this year, and there’s still just over half a year left in 2023. But despite that seemingly bleak number, one analyst is encouraging Final Fantasy fans not to count out FF16 for Game of the Year contention, and he’s drawing from recent history to make his point.
As pointed out by YouTuber NIXNE on his Twitter accountEA and Hazelight Studios’ action adventure title It Takes Two was in a similar boat back in 2021 when it took home the top prize at The Game Awards, also bearing a Metascore of 88. “This is for the people who keep saying Final Fantasy XVI wont win GOTY because it scored an 88 on Metacritic. In 2021 It Takes Two won GOTY and was NOT the highest rated game that year. Highest metascore does not equal GOTY,” his post reads.
And he’s right. Taking a look back at Metacritic’s top-rated games of 2021, it requires a bit of scrolling to find It Takes Two. It, too, finished with a Metascore of 88 and falls at number 31 in the year’s review rankings. Currently, Final Fantasy 16 is sitting in the 22nd overall spot for 2023, although since Metacritic treats each instance of the same game released on different platforms as its own release, it’s really only in 15th place when removing second and third listings of the same games. Adding to that point, a lot of the games ranking above Final Fantasy 16 are remakes, remasters, expansions, and special collections of older games, and removing those entries brings it up to a solid sixth place (behind Tears of the Kingdom, Street Fighter 6, Diablo 4, Moss, and Hi-Fi Rush).
And if you’re more inclined to believe user reviews than professional ones, FF16’s scores may also be a bit misleading as there’s been evidence of review bombing, which seems to be coming from longtime series fans who aren’t comfortable with the different direction in which the series is heading. On MetaCritic alone, there are currently 1,222 positive user reviews, 78 mixed reviews, and 540 negative ones, including 80 that gave it either a zero or a one.
We’re still about six months out from The Game Awards, so it’ll be some time until we even get a list of nominees, and there are plenty of games yet to be released that could still make the cut over FF6 or even Tears of the Kingdom. We’ll just have to wait until December to see which games have a chance at Game of the Year.
