Online video game reviews are biased: They rely on game keys to review a lot of games in a short amount of time. To get these keys, they need to garner & keep favor with big-name publishers. If a publisher doesn't like a review, they can blacklist the reviewer/site: remove them from the list of key recipients, sometimes permanently. If a site doesn't receive a key for a big-name game, they may not be able to review it, and they may lose website traffic to other review sites that did get a key. Therefore, there is an incentive for game review sites to be very, very nice when reviewing games by these publishers.
This creates an inequality in reviews. Games from big-name (AAA) publishers are often rated generously, while indie games receive much harsher reviews. An AAA game can bounce back from a bad review and still perform quite well, financially. Conversely, one bad review can totally ruin an indie developer.
To make more fun, exciting, innovative games, indie developers need to be encouraged. Not every game is going to be good, but every game deserves a fair shot.
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