Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of the author and not PlayStation LifeStyle as a whole.
If you’ve read any of the reviews here on PlayStation LifeStyle, you’ve likely seen this disclaimer on many of them. This is the site’s way of disclosing how reviewers obtained the game they reviewed (be it provided by a publisher or purchased by the site itself). It’s an important piece of information, and disclosure has been a big deal as of late, especially when regarding YouTube videos (but that’s a whole different story for another time).
Despite the site’s best attempts at disclosure (which is also done at by every reputable gaming site), there’s still a lot of misinformation that goes around regarding review copies. One recent example that highlighted this was when Polygon’s Arthur Gies received a lot of blow back from gamers for writing an opinion piece instead of a scored review for Star Fox Zero. Fans were up in arms over Polygon “breaching” their non-existent agreement with Nintendo to review the game. To help gamers better understand all the facets of review copies, I’ve talked to people on both sides of the industry. This will help gamers understand if any game is guaranteed a review, the struggles that developers face when giving out codes, and the working relationship between press and publishers.
Expectation of Coverage

The above text is from our own Review Policy. As you can see, ther...