: Metacritic has responded to the study, claiming that the information is "wildly, wholly inaccurate." The full statement can be found on Facebook .]The website Metacritic weights the scores of different video game critics and publications when calculating its aggregate 'metascore' for any particular title.Each critic/ publication is assigned one of six different weightings of 'importance', with some publications exerting considerably more influence over a game's final 'metascore' than others.This was revealed by Adams Greenwood-Ericksen of Full Sail University at a talk titled 'A Scientific Assessment of the Validity and Value of Metacritic' delivered at the Game Developer's Conference in San Fransisco this afternoon.Metacritic confirmed to Greenwood-Ericksen during the course of his research that the site applies different weightings to incoming critics and publications' reviews in order to calculate its 'averaged' numerical score for any particular title.However, it would not reveal how the weightings were assigned to different publications or on what criteria one critic was given a greater weighing than another.The course director and his students then set about modelling the weightings based on data pulled from the site. Finally, after six months of work, the researchers compared their modeled scores to the actual scores and discovered that across the 188 publications that feed into Metacritic's video game score work, their findings were almost entirely accurate.Greenwood-Ericksen stated they wanted to carry out the research as Metacritic scores are "very important to a lot of people" and pointed out that, when publishers withhold financial bonuses when a game doesn't reach its Metacritic target, livelihoods are tied up in the site's work.He also reminded attendees that often a publisher's Wall Street stock can change on the basis of a Metacritic score., and as such the site's workings are of practical interest.The findings will also be of interest to consumers as, if accurate, they reveal that some official magazines and sites (which are sponsored by platform holders in some cases) are assigned a greater weighting than independent sites and critics.Here is the full listing of score weightings used by Metacritic according to Greenwood-Ericksen's research:Highest (1.5) -- Dark ZeroHighest (1.5) -- Digital ChumpsHighest (1.5) -- Digital Entertainment NewsHighest (1.5) -- Extreme GamerHighest (1.5) -- Firing SquadHighest (1.5) -- Game AlmightyHighest (1.5) -- Game InformerHighest (1.5) -- GameProHighest (1.5) -- Gamers EuropeHighest (1.5) -- GameTrailersHighest (1.5) -- GotNextHighest (1.5) -- IGNHighest (1.5) -- IGN AUHighest (1.5) -- IGN UKHighest (1.5) -- Just AdventureHighest (1.5) -- MachinimaHighest (1.5) -- Planet Xbox 360Highest (1.5) -- PlayStation Official Magazine UKHighest (1.5) -- PlayStation Official Magazine USHighest (1.5) -- TelegraphHighest (1.5) -- The New York TimesHighest (1.5) -- TheSixthAxisHighest (1.5) -- TotalPlayStationHighest (1.5) -- VGPubHighest (1.5) -- Videogameszone.deHighest (1.5) -- WiredHighest (1.5) -- XboxicHighest (1.5) -- Yahoo GamesHighest (1.5) -- ZTGames DomainHigh (1.25) -- Absolute GamesHigh (1.25) -- ActionTripHigh (1.25) -- Adventure GamersHigh (1.25) -- Computer & Video GamesHigh (1.25) -- Console GameworldHigh (1.25) -- Da GameBoyzHigh (1.25) -- DarkstationHigh (1.25) -- Edge MagazineHigh (1.25) -- EGMHigh (1.25) -- EuroGamer ItalyHigh (1.25) -- EuroGamer SpainHigh (1.25) -- G4 TVHigh (1.25) -- Game ChroniclesHigh (1.25) -- GameDailyHigh (1.25) -- GameplayerHigh (1.25) -- Gamer 2.0High (1.25) -- GamervisionHigh (1.25) -- Games Master UKHigh (1.25) -- GamespotHigh (1.25) -- GameSpyHigh (1.25) -- Gaming AgeHigh (1.25) -- Gaming NexusHigh (1.25) -- Maxi Consoles (Portugal)High (1.25) -- PelitHigh (1.25) -- Play.tmHigh (1.25) -- PlayStation UniverseHigh (1.25) -- PlayStation Official AUHigh (1.25) -- PSM3 Magazine UKHigh (1.25) -- PS ExtremeHigh (1.25) -- RPG FanHigh (1.25) -- Strategy InformerHigh (1.25) -- Team XboxHigh (1.25) -- The Onion (AV Club)High (1.25) -- Totally 360High (1.25) -- WonderwallWebHigh (1.25) -- XGNMedium (1.0) -- 1UpMedium (1.0) -- CPU GamerMedium (1.0) -- Cubed3Medium (1.0) -- CynamiteMedium (1.0) -- D+Pad MagazineMedium (1.0) -- DailyGameMedium (1.0) -- DestructoidMedium (1.0) -- EurogamerMedium (1.0) -- Everyeye.itMedium (1.0) -- Game RevolutionMedium (1.0) -- Game SharkMedium (1.0) -- Gameblog.frMedium (1.0) -- GameKultMedium (1.0) -- Gamereactor DenmarkMedium (1.0) -- Gamers' TempleMedium (1.0) -- GameSharkMedium (1.0) -- Gameblog.frMedium (1.0) -- GamesNationMedium (1.0) -- GameStarMedium (1.0) -- GameTapMedium (1.0) -- Gaming TargetMedium (1.0) -- Gamereactor SwedenMedium (1.0) -- The GuardianMedium (1.0) -- Hardcore Gamer MagazineMedium (1.0) -- HellBoredMedium (1.0) -- NiceGamersMedium (1.0) -- JoystiqMedium (1.0) -- Just RPGMedium (1.0) -- Level 7.nuMedium (1.0) -- ModojoMedium (1.0) -- MondoXboxMedium (1.0) -- Multiplayer.itMedium (1.0) -- N-EuropeMedium (1.0) -- NetjakMedium (1.0) -- NGamer MagazineMedium (1.0) -- Nintendo LifeMedium (1.0) -- Nintendo PowerMedium (1.0) -- NintendojoMedium (1.0) -- Nintendo World ReportMedium (1.0) -- NZGamerMedium (1.0) -- Official Nintendo Magazine UKMedium (1.0) -- Official Xbox 360 Magazine UKMedium (1.0) -- Official Xbox MagazineMedium (1.0) -- Official Xbox Magazine UKMedium (1.0) -- PALGNMedium (1.0) -- PC FormatMedium (1.0) -- PC Gamer (Germany)Medium (1.0) -- PC Gamer UKMedium (1.0) -- PC GamerMedium (1.0) -- PC PowerplayMedium (1.0) -- PGNx MediaMedium (1.0) -- Play MagazineMedium (1.0) -- PlayStation LifeStyleMedium (1.0) -- Pocketgamer UKMedium (1.0) -- PT GamesMedium (1.0) -- Real GamerMedium (1.0) -- SpazioGamesMedium (1.0) -- Talk XboxMedium (1.0) -- The EscapistMedium (1.0) -- ThunderboltMedium (1.0) -- Total VideoGamesMedium (1.0) -- Worth PlayingMedium (1.0) -- X360 Magazine UKMedium (1.0) -- Xbox World 360 Magazine UKMedium (1.0) -- Xbox World AustraliaMedium (1.0) -- Xbox360 AchievementsMedium (1.0) -- Xbox AddictLow (0.75) -- 360 Gamer Magazine UKLow (0.75) -- 3DJuegosLow (0.75) -- Ace GamezLow (0.75) -- Atomic GamerLow (0.75) -- BigPond GameArenaLow (0.75) -- Console MonsterLow (0.75) -- DeekoLow (0.75) -- Eurogamer PortugalLow (0.75) -- Game FocusLow (0.75) -- GameplanetLow (0.75) -- Gamer LimitLow (0.75) -- Gamer.nlLow (0.75) -- Games Radar (in-house)Low (0.75) -- Games TMLow (0.75) -- GamestyleLow (0.75) -- GameZoneLow (0.75) -- Gaming ExcellenceLow (0.75) -- Gaming TrendLow (0.75) -- Impulse gamerLow (0.75) -- KomboLow (0.75) -- MEGamersLow (0.75) -- Metro Game CentralLow (0.75) -- MS Xbox WorldLow (0.75) -- NTSC-ukLow (0.75) -- PS FocusLow (0.75) -- PSW Magazine UKLow (0.75) -- Video Game TalkLow (0.75) -- VideoGamerLower (0.5) -- Armchair EmpireLower (0.5) -- Cheat Code CentralLower (0.5) -- Game Over OnlineLower (0.5) -- Game PositiveLower (0.5) -- Gamer's HellLower (0.5) -- Gamereactor SwedenLower (0.5) -- Gamers.atLower (0.5) -- Giant BombLower (0.5) -- PS3bloggen.seLower (0.5) -- RPGamerLower (0.5) -- Vandal OnlineLowest (0.25) -- 9LivesLowest (0.25) -- BoomtownLowest (0.25) -- Computer Games Online ROLowest (0.25) -- GamerNodeLowest (0.25) -- GamingXPLowest (0.25) -- IC-GamesLowest (0.25) -- Insidegamer.nlLowest (0.25) -- Jolt Online GamingLowest (0.25) -- KikizoLowest (0.25) -- LEVELLowest (0.25) -- MeritstationLowest (0.25) -- My GamerLowest (0.25) -- Official PlayStation 2 Magazine UKLowest (0.25) -- Play UKLowest (0.25) -- WHAM! Gaming