Microsoft says it is working to simplify the way reviewers and creators receive Xbox game codes after Modern Warfare 4 launched without enough Xbox Series X/S reviews to produce a Metacritic average.
The issue became visible when the Call of Duty account promoted the game’s review scores. It shared a graphic listing averages of 89 for Switch 2, 88 for PlayStation 5 and 87 for PC on October 26. Some of those scores have since fallen slightly, but the graphic did not include an Xbox result because the platform had not received enough reviews.
Why Xbox reviews can take longer to arrange
The omission prompted discussion among critics and Xbox players about why Xbox versions can sometimes attract fewer launch reviews. Scott Van Vliet, Xbox’s chief technology officer, acknowledged the problem in a post posted last night on X.
“Reviewing a game on Xbox takes too many steps today. Press and creators should be able to redeem and play, and that’s what the team is ultimately building toward. The first updates are coming soon.”
The extra work can involve more than redeeming a standard digital code. Depending on the publisher and release, a reviewer may need to provide an Xbox Live Device ID, wait for that device to be approved or “whitelisted”, and then download the current review build.
The process is not the only factor
There is disagreement over how often these requirements occur and whether they are inconvenient enough to influence a reviewer’s platform choice. Some reviewers have reported encountering the process with high-profile releases such as 007 First Light, while others say it would never be a determining factor in choosing where to review a game.
A skeptical view has also been raised about treating Xbox’s additional steps as the main reason for the review-count gap.
Timing is often more important. PC review codes commonly arrive before console versions, particularly when platform holders still need to approve a final build or a late update. Steam’s beta-branch tools can also make it easier to distribute and update pre-release versions.
Progress usually cannot be carried from a PC review build to a console build, so reviewers working to finish coverage before launch may simply use the earliest available version. That practical advantage can outweigh the inconvenience of arranging an Xbox code.
Platform choice depends on the hardware
Reviewers also choose platforms based on the hardware they own and the features they need to assess. Someone with an Xbox Series S but no Series X may prefer PlayStation 5 when graphics performance or image quality is central to the review. Access to a PS5 Pro can similarly affect the decision.
Xbox Play Anywhere titles offer a different advantage. They can be tested across Xbox consoles, PC and Xbox Ally X, giving reviewers more flexibility during the final rush before release.
Could Xbox adopt a beta-branch approach?
One possible solution would be an Xbox equivalent of Steam’s beta-branch system, allowing publishers to distribute review builds earlier and update them more efficiently. It remains unclear how practical that would be or how much influence it would have on the number of Xbox reviews.
For most games released during the last two console generations, the Xbox and PlayStation versions have been extremely similar. The days when reviewers routinely compared both versions to identify major performance problems or serious bugs have largely passed.
Even so, when a publisher highlights unusually strong review scores for a new Call of Duty game, it is understandable that it would want the figures to include the Xbox version—particularly when Xbox’s owner also controls the franchise.
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