- Xbox CTO confirms the company will streamline its game review process in the coming months.
- This comes after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 missed out on an Xbox Metacritic score.
- The game currently holds Metacritic scores of 86 on PC, 85 on PS5, and 87 on Switch 2, while the Series X|S version remains marked "TBD."
Over the past few days, players have celebrated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s launch, but there’s one glaring issue: Metacritic shows ratings only for the game’s PS5 and PC versions, while the Xbox Series X|S version still shows “TBD.” Now, Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet has promised to simplify the game review process so this doesn’t happen again.
Here’s what Scott Van Vliet on X stated about the issue: “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.”
Xbox’s game review process isn’t as simple as punching a code and playing the game, as it is on PS5 and PC. Instead, Windows Central reports that reviewers must dig through system and developer settings to find their Xbox Live Device ID, send it to a PR company, and wait for the publisher to approve their console before registering a build or a code.
Naturally, since Xbox’s game review process is so tedious and time-consuming, most reviewers wrote their Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 review after playing on PS5 and PC. On Metacritic, the game sits at 86 on PC based on 29 reviews, 85 on PS5 with 34 reviews, and 87 on Nintendo Switch 2 with 7 reviews.
Meanwhile, the Xbox Series X|S version has only two reviews, which isn’t enough to determine a Metacritic score. With Xbox’s CTO confirming changes to the review process, journalists should soon find it much easier to review games on the platform.
This also comes at a time when Rockstar has sent out GTA 6 review codes before its November 18, 2026, embargo. So, if you’re a content creator or a journalist, reviewing games on Xbox consoles should become much easier in the coming months, and hopefully avoid another MW 4 Metacritic situation.
That said, do you think Xbox can simplify the game review process before 2027? Tell us in the comments section below.
