Metacritic has removed a review of Resident Evil Requiem from one of its “highly respected critics” after it was revealed that the author doesn’t exist.
The nonsensical 543-word review uploaded to Videogamer was written by “experienced iGaming and sports betting analyst” Brian Merrygold, but it has since transpired that Merrygold has no online footprint, professional or personal, prior to October 2025. As Kotaku points out, the filename of his bio pic begins “ChatGPT-Image-Oct-20-2025,” intimating he is not a real person.
According to one former Videogamer writer, most of the outlet’s staff were let go last week and have since been replaced by AI. Other authors on the site are similarly alleged to be AI, as they seemingly have no prior online history before October 2025 or publishing at Videogamer, despite claiming they have many years’ experience in games and esports media.
One editor links to the wrong Videogamer X/Twitter account from her profile, and her own following list includes several accounts thought to be AI, most of which were similarly created last October.
“The RE Requiem review and a handful of other Videogamer reviews from 2026 have been removed from Metacritic,” Metacritic co-founder Marc Doyle told GamesIndustry.biz.
“Metacritic has been a reputable review source for a quarter century and has maintained a rigorous vetting process when adding new publications to our slate of critics. However, in certain instances such as a publication being sold or a writing staff having turned over, problems can arise such as plagiarism, theft, or other forms of fraud including AI-generated reviews.
“Metacritic’s policy is to never include an AI-generated critic review on Metacritic and if we discover that one has been posted, we’ll remove it immediately and sever ties with that publication indefinitely pending a thorough investigation.”
The co-founder of Esports News UK, who left in 2025, similarly alleges that some of that site’s authors are also fabricated, too.