Metacritic has removed a review of "Resident Evil Requiem" following revelations that it was created by AI and falsely credited to a non-existent writer
Metacritic has deleted a critique of "Resident Evil Requiem" penned by a so-called "highly esteemed critic" after it was uncovered that the character does not exist in reality.
The bizarre 543-word critique posted on Videogamer was attributed to "seasoned iGaming and sports betting analyst" Brian Merrygold. However, it has emerged that Merrygold shows no traceable online presence either professionally or personally before October 2025. As highlighted by Kotaku, the file name of his profile image begins with "ChatGPT-Image-Oct-20-2025," indicating his non-existence as a real individual.
A former Videogamer writer disclosed that most of Videogamer's staff were dismissed the previous week and subsequently substituted with AI. Similarly, other writers on the platform are also believed to be AI-generated, as they lack any online history before the indicated time or their involvement with Videogamer, despite claims of extensive experience in gaming and esports journalism.
One editor's profile misleadingly links to the incorrect Videogamer X/Twitter account, and her list of followed accounts includes several believed to be AI-controlled, many of which were similarly established last October.
"We have removed the RE Requiem review and several other 2026 Videogamer reviews from Metacritic," stated Marc Doyle, co-founder of Metacritic, to GamesIndustry.biz.
"For 25 years, Metacritic has prided itself on being a trustworthy review aggregator, and we follow a stringent evaluation procedure when integrating new publications. Nevertheless, occurrences such as publication ownership changes or staff turnovers may introduce issues like plagiarism, intellectual property theft, and fraudulent AI-generated content.
"Our policy strictly forbids the inclusion of AI-generated reviews on Metacritic. If such content is discovered, it is removed at once, and relations with that publication are frozen indefinitely pending a comprehensive investigation."
The Esports News UK co-founder, who departed in 2025, alleges that certain authors on that platform are also fabricated.