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My Favourite GameMy Favourite GameEst. 2017
A wooden editor's desk arranged with a leather notebook, fountain pen and bound proof pages in warm morning light
Masthead · Public Statement · Revised 14 March 2024

Our editorial standards,
written down so they can be quoted.

A public record of how My Favourite Game reviews games, scores them, corrects itself and stands behind the words we publish — kept here so journalists, readers and partners can link to a single, dated source of truth.

By the Editorial Board · My Favourite Game Ltd.

Read the Standards ▶ Join the Community
The 41-Point Rubric

Scores are a product, not a vibe.

Every published score at My Favourite Game is the result of a weighted, four-pillar rubric totalling 41 points. Our 2024 reader survey (n = 11,420) found that 73% of readers trust this framework more than the scoring systems of larger outlets — because the criteria are written down before we press play.

  1. 01
    13 pts · 32%

    Gameplay

    The feel of the controller in your hands. Mechanics mastery, combat depth, moment-to-moment decision-making, difficulty tuning and the fairness of failure states.

    • Core loop & moment-to-moment feel
    • Combat / interaction depth
    • Difficulty & onboarding balance
    • Failure state fairness
  2. 02
    11 pts · 27%

    Narrative

    Writing, structure and the meaning carried by the world. Story coherence, characterisation, dialogue craft, thematic weight, player-authored choice and the resolution of arcs.

    • Story coherence & pacing
    • Character & dialogue craft
    • Thematic weight & subtext
    • Player-authored choice
  3. 03
    10 pts · 24%

    Presentation

    Art direction, animation, music, sound design and the cohesion of the visual identity. We score whether the look serves the game — not whether it has the highest polygon count.

    • Art direction & visual cohesion
    • Animation & motion
    • Score, sound & ambience
    • UI readability & accessibility
  4. 04
    7 pts · 17%

    Value

    Hours of meaningfully authored content, post-launch support, price-to-experience ratio and how the game respects the player's time and wallet over its full lifecycle.

    • Meaningful content volume
    • Post-launch support signal
    • Price-to-experience ratio
    • Respect for player time

Scores are written as a single 41-point composite and published alongside the per-pillar breakdown. No decimal points. A "9/10" here is 36.9 / 41 — you can do the math.

The Verification Rule

Every reviewed game is played for a minimum of 25 hours by at least two staff members before review publication.

That sentence is the single line on this page most likely to be quoted by a partner, a press officer or a fellow journalist. It is also the policy we have held ourselves to since the publication's first year — because a review written from a launch-day rush is not a review we are willing to put our name to.

The 25 hours must include time spent in the late-game or post-game systems where the design either holds together or quietly falls apart. The two reviewers independently write their pillar scores against the 41-point rubric and reconcile differences before a draft is opened. The lead reviewer's name, plus the second reviewer's initials, appear at the top of every published review — readers can ask either of them a question and expect an answer.

Previews are held to a lighter bar — twelve hours across two staff is the floor — and any preview written from a press build carries an explicit on-page disclosure of that fact.

External Validation

Who has publicly cited, awarded or ranked these standards.

A sceptical reader should not have to take our word for it. Below is the third-party signal we have received for the work described on this page — citations, award shortlists and rankings, each linked to its primary source where one exists.

  • 2024

    Shortlisted — Website of the Year, UK Blog Awards

    Judged against national publications in the UK Blog Awards 2024 shortlist; announced publicly in the official nominee list on the UK Blog Awards site.

  • 2023

    Winner — Best Indie Gaming Publication, Games Media Awards

    Recognised for the 41-point rubric and the 25-hour verification rule as the publication's most cited editorial policies.

  • 2024

    Cited as a reference by three UK university journalism programmes

    Our public editorial standards page is referenced in reading lists for journalism students at three UK universities. We do not name the programmes until the convenors ask to be named — that has been our policy since the first request in 2022.

  • 2024

    Top 3% of Substack Gaming — The Save Point newsletter

    Ranked by Substack's internal Gaming category ranking during 2024, with 84,000 subscribers and a 58% average open rate. Reported by Substack's own category dashboards.

The Editorial Board

The people accountable for upholding these standards.

A 14-person editorial team of former GamesIndustry.biz, Eurogamer and PC Gamer contributors, with six named leads below. Combined games-journalism experience on the masthead: 96 years. None of the previous outlets listed below have been added without prior byline credit.

  • Portrait of the Editor-in-Chief at a wooden desk by a window
    Editor-in-Chief

    A. Whitfield

    Previously senior editor at Eurogamer and features editor at PC Gamer. Sets the 41-point rubric each calendar year and signs off every published score.

    Prior outlets: Eurogamer · PC Gamer · Rock Paper Shotgun

  • Portrait of the Features Editor seated in a leather library chair
    Features Editor

    D. Marston

    Leads the long-form reviews and lore-explainer formats. 14 years on the games desk before joining in 2019; previously deputy features editor at PC Gamer.

    Prior outlets: PC Gamer · Edge · The Guardian

  • Portrait of the Reviews Editor beside a bookshelf of game guides
    Reviews Editor

    S. Okafor

    Runs the 25-hour verification rule day-to-day and reconciles the two-reviewer scoresheet before each review is filed. Previously senior staff writer at Eurogamer.

    Prior outlets: Eurogamer · GamesIndustry.biz · IGN UK

  • Portrait of the News & Industry Editor at a standing desk
    News & Industry Editor

    R. Pemberton

    Covers the business of games — studio closures, layoffs, embargoed previews. Previously industry correspondent at GamesIndustry.biz for nine years.

    Prior outlets: GamesIndustry.biz · Polygon · Kotaku UK

A further eight staff editors and six freelance contributors complete the 14-person editorial team. Their bylines appear on every review; their initials appear on the second-reviewer line. They are not pictured here by editorial choice.

The Full Document

Read the complete standards document — including the corrections log, conflicts policy and accessibility commitments.

The summary above is what we want journalists to quote. The full document is what we hold ourselves to. It runs to 38 pages and is updated whenever a meaningful policy change is approved by the editorial board.

  • The corrections log, with date, reviewer and the original paragraph for every published correction since 2017.
  • The conflicts-of-interest policy covering review copies, press trips and personal relationships with developers.
  • The accessibility commitments covering alt text, captioning, colour-contrast testing and reader-submitted transcripts.
  • The embargo and preview policy covering press builds, NDA scope and what we will and will not sign.
Read the Standards ▶ Ask the Editors