From what I understand, the game review community is somewhat small and not impressively compensated. Game reviewers "win" prizes or go to paid for press events in exchange for positive reviews, and can be fairly vindictive in responding when claims of unethical behavior are leveled their way. In this article Jason asserts that the coverage of games is for the consumer, but when writers preemptively release 8/10 reviews for games that are essentially broken on release, I would say it is fairly clear that the coverage most serves the purposes of the game publishers and reporters.
From what I understand, the game review community is somewhat small and not impressively compensated. Game reviewers "win" prizes or go to paid for press events in exchange for positive reviews, and can be fairly vindictive in responding when claims of unethical behavior are leveled their way. In this article Jason asserts that the coverage of games is for the consumer, but when writers preemptively release 8/10 reviews for games that are essentially broken on release, I would say it is fairly clear that the coverage most serves the purposes of the game publishers and reporters.