UPDATE: Metacritic responds on its Faceboook page, "The article overvalues some publications and undervalues others (while ignoring others altogether), sometimes comically so. (In addition, our weights are periodically adjusted as needed if, over time, a publication demonstrates an increase or decrease in overall quality.)"
ORIGINAL STORY: How does Metacritic work? It's an important question because game developer's bonuses and sometimes their jobs are tied to a game's score. Last year, Irrational Games, developer of the recently released "BioShock Infinite," even put out a job listing last year informing anyone thinking of applying that they had to have worked on a game with a Metacritic score of 85 or higher.
The site, which is owned by CBS Interactive, is famously tight-lipped about how much weight is given to the 188 publications it uses to determine a game's Metascore.
Adams Greenwood-Ericksen, a course director at Full Sail University, gave a talk titled at the Game Developer's Conference on Wednesday called "A Scientific Assessment of the Validity and Value of Metacritic," reports Gamasutra. By reverse engineering the score given to games, Greenwood-Ericksen and his students were able to figure out how much weight is given to each publication. The higher the score in the list below, the more weight given to the publication's reviews. Metacritic has yet to comment on the list and the list is only a theory at this point. But it is interesting to see which publications the influential web site gives more credence to and which it considers less important.
Weighting -- Critic/ Publication
Highest (1.5) -- Dark Zero
Highest (1.5) -- Digital Chumps
Highest (1.5) -- Digital Entertainment News
Highest (1.5) -- Extreme Gamer
Highest (1.5) -- Firing Squad
Highest (1.5) -- Game Almighty
Highest (1.5) -- Game Informer
Highest (1.5) -- GamePro
Highest (1.5) -- Gamers Europe
Highest (1.5) -- GameTrailers
Highest (1.5) -- GotNext
Highest (1.5) -- IGN
Highest (1.5) -- IGN AU
Highest (1.5) -- IGN UK
Highest (1.5) -- Just Adventure
Highest (1.5) -- Machinima
Highest (1.5) -- Planet Xbox 360
Highest (1.5) -- PlayStation Official Magazine UK
Highest (1.5) -- PlayStation Official Magazine US
Highest (1.5) -- Telegraph
Highest (1.5) -- The New York Times
Highest (1.5) -- TheSixthAxis
Highest (1.5) -- TotalPlayStation
Highest (1.5) -- VGPub
Highest (1.5) -- Videogameszone.de
Highest (1.5) -- Wired
Highest (1.5) -- Xboxic
Highest (1.5) -- Yahoo Games
Highest (1.5) -- ZTGames Domain
High (1.25) -- Absolute Games
High (1.25) -- ActionTrip
High (1.25) -- Adventure Gamers
High (1.25) -- Computer & Video Games
High (1.25) -- Console Gameworld
High (1.25) -- Da GameBoyz
High (1.25) -- Darkstation
High (1.25) -- Edge Magazine
High (1.25) -- EGM
High (1.25) -- EuroGamer Italy
High (1.25) -- EuroGamer Spain
High (1.25) -- G4 TV
High (1.25) -- Game Chronicles
High (1.25) -- GameDaily
High (1.25) -- Gameplayer
High (1.25) -- Gamer 2.0
High (1.25) -- Gamervision
High (1.25) -- Games Master UK
High (1.25) -- Gamespot
High (1.25) -- GameSpy
High (1.25) -- Gaming Age
High (1.25) -- Gaming Nexus
High (1.25) -- Maxi Consoles (Portugal)
High (1.25) -- Pelit
High (1.25) -- Play.tm
High (1.25) -- PlayStation Universe
High (1.25) -- PlayStation Official AU
High (1.25) -- PSM3 Magazine UK
High (1.25) -- PS Extreme
High (1.25) -- RPG Fan
High (1.25) -- Strategy Informer
High (1.25) -- Team Xbox
High (1.25) -- The Onion (AV Club)
High (1.25) -- Totally 360
High (1.25) -- WonderwallWeb
High (1.25) -- XGN
Medium (1.0) -- 1Up
Medium (1.0) -- CPU Gamer
Medium (1.0) -- Cubed3
Medium (1.0) -- Cynamite
Medium (1.0) -- D+Pad Magazine
Medium (1.0) -- DailyGame
Medium (1.0) -- Destructoid
Medium (1.0) -- Eurogamer
Medium (1.0) -- Everyeye.it
Medium (1.0) -- Game Revolution
Medium (1.0) -- Game Shark
Medium (1.0) -- Gameblog.fr
Medium (1.0) -- GameKult
Medium (1.0) -- Gamereactor Denmark
Medium (1.0) -- Gamers' Temple
Medium (1.0) -- GameShark
Medium (1.0) -- Gameblog.fr
Medium (1.0) -- GamesNation
Medium (1.0) -- GameStar
Medium (1.0) -- GameTap
Medium (1.0) -- Gaming Target
Medium (1.0) -- Gamereactor Sweden
Medium (1.0) -- The Guardian
Medium (1.0) -- Hardcore Gamer Magazine
Medium (1.0) -- HellBored
Medium (1.0) -- NiceGamers
Medium (1.0) -- Joystiq
Medium (1.0) -- Just RPG
Medium (1.0) -- Level 7.nu
Medium (1.0) -- Modojo
Medium (1.0) -- MondoXbox
Medium (1.0) -- Multiplayer.it
Medium (1.0) -- N-Europe
Medium (1.0) -- Netjak
Medium (1.0) -- NGamer Magazine
Medium (1.0) -- Nintendo Life
Medium (1.0) -- Nintendo Power
Medium (1.0) -- Nintendojo
Medium (1.0) -- Nintendo World Report
Medium (1.0) -- NZGamer
Medium (1.0) -- Official Nintendo Magazine UK
Medium (1.0) -- Official Xbox 360 Magazine UK
Medium (1.0) -- Official Xbox Magazine
Medium (1.0) -- Official Xbox Magazine UK
Medium (1.0) -- PALGN
Medium (1.0) -- PC Format
Medium (1.0) -- PC Gamer (Germany)
Medium (1.0) -- PC Gamer UK
Medium (1.0) -- PC Gamer
Medium (1.0) -- PC Powerplay
Medium (1.0) -- PGNx Media
Medium (1.0) -- Play Magazine
Medium (1.0) -- PlayStation LifeStyle
Medium (1.0) -- Pocketgamer UK
Medium (1.0) -- PT Games
Medium (1.0) -- Real Gamer
Medium (1.0) -- SpazioGames
Medium (1.0) -- Talk Xbox
Medium (1.0) -- The Escapist
Medium (1.0) -- Thunderbolt
Medium (1.0) -- Total VideoGames
Medium (1.0) -- Worth Playing
Medium (1.0) -- X360 Magazine UK
Medium (1.0) -- Xbox World 360 Magazine UK
Medium (1.0) -- Xbox World Australia
Medium (1.0) -- Xbox360 Achievements
Medium (1.0) -- Xbox Addict
Low (0.75) -- 360 Gamer Magazine UK
Low (0.75) -- 3DJuegos
Low (0.75) -- Ace Gamez
Low (0.75) -- Atomic Gamer
Low (0.75) -- BigPond GameArena
Low (0.75) -- Console Monster
Low (0.75) -- Deeko
Low (0.75) -- Eurogamer Portugal
Low (0.75) -- Game Focus
Low (0.75) -- Gameplanet
Low (0.75) -- Gamer Limit
Low (0.75) -- Gamer.nl
Low (0.75) -- Games Radar (in-house)
Low (0.75) -- Games TM
Low (0.75) -- Gamestyle
Low (0.75) -- GameZone
Low (0.75) -- Gaming Excellence
Low (0.75) -- Gaming Trend
Low (0.75) -- Impulse gamer
Low (0.75) -- Kombo
Low (0.75) -- MEGamers
Low (0.75) -- Metro Game Central
Low (0.75) -- MS Xbox World
Low (0.75) -- NTSC-uk
Low (0.75) -- PS Focus
Low (0.75) -- PSW Magazine UK
Low (0.75) -- Video Game Talk
Low (0.75) -- VideoGamer
Lower (0.5) -- Armchair Empire
Lower (0.5) -- Cheat Code Central
Lower (0.5) -- Game Over Online
Lower (0.5) -- Game Positive
Lower (0.5) -- Gamer's Hell
Lower (0.5) -- Gamereactor Sweden
Lower (0.5) -- Gamers.at
Lower (0.5) -- Giant Bomb
Lower (0.5) -- PS3bloggen.se
Lower (0.5) -- RPGamer
Lower (0.5) -- Vandal Online
Lowest (0.25) -- 9Lives
Lowest (0.25) -- Boomtown
Lowest (0.25) -- Computer Games Online RO
Lowest (0.25) -- GamerNode
Lowest (0.25) -- GamingXP
Lowest (0.25) -- IC-Games
Lowest (0.25) -- Insidegamer.nl
Lowest (0.25) -- Jolt Online Gaming
Lowest (0.25) -- Kikizo
Lowest (0.25) -- LEVEL
Lowest (0.25) -- Meritstation
Lowest (0.25) -- My Gamer
Lowest (0.25) -- Official PlayStation 2 Magazine UK
Lowest (0.25) -- Play UK
Lowest (0.25) -- WHAM! Gaming