About Gamer Friendly

Gamer Friendly rates video games on one question: how fair is this game to the people who buy it? Not graphics, not story, not whether it's fun — plenty of sites cover that. We look at the business side: microtransactions, loot boxes, pay-to-win, season passes, always-online requirements and the other practices that decide whether a game respects your wallet and your time.

How ratings work

Every game is checked against the same list of questions. For each one, players who know the game vote on whether it does that thing, and can explain what they saw.

  1. Community votes. Signed-in players answer each question for games they know and add details or evidence. A game's community rating is the share of votes saying it doesn't use those practices.
  2. Staff certification. Our team reviews the community's votes and comments, checks the facts, and makes an official call on each question. That gives the game its certified score.
  3. Badges of Honor. Games that go further — free DLC, no online requirement, real cross-play — can earn badges that recognise it.

What the scores mean

A score is the percentage of questions where the game was found to be fair to players.

100
Gamer Friendly

Clean on every question we check.

95
Very Friendly

One or two minor issues.

70
Fairly Friendly

Some practices worth knowing about before you buy.

30
Fairly Unfriendly

Many monetisation or access problems.

5
Very Unfriendly

Built around extracting extra money.

What we check

Each game is rated against these 22 questions:

  • Microtransactions
  • Season Pass
  • Loot Boxes
  • Pay To Win
  • DLC
  • Day One DLC
  • Battle Pass
  • Subscription Fees
  • Energy/Time Limits
  • Cosmetic Purchases
  • Currency Bundles
  • Post Launch Additions
  • In Game Ads
  • Expensive Editions
  • Gacha Mechanics
  • FOMO micro transactions
  • Manipulative Currency Bundles
  • Always-Online Single Player
  • Disc or Cartridge is Just a Key
  • Excessive Launchers or Account Linking
  • Preorder Incentives
  • Retailer Exclusive Preorder Incentives

Where the data comes from

Game details such as release dates, platforms, cover art and descriptions come from IGDB. Ratings, comments and certifications are written by our community and staff. News links point to the original articles on their publishers' sites.

Get involved

The ratings are only as good as the people behind them. Create a free account to rate games you've played, or get in touch if you spot something we got wrong.