This isn't isolated- I know 1st hand (Score 1)

I've been a reviewer for a major site for many years. Though I think we are very reasonable, I have had to re-draft reviews & alter my (ratings) numbers if they were too harsh or otherwise did not meet the rest of the world's view on a game. I have even had games taken away from me and handed to another for review- for mine being too harsh. That's rare, but has happened more than a couple of times over the years. I am a programmer as well, so I am not unreasonably harsh on most titles. I don't think there are many development teams out there that set out to make junk. There's no benefit from such. However, I live in the reality that I have to temper my honest feedback or face similar backlash. It is not my FT career, so I would not as impacted, but I enjoy doing it and would hate for it to end-- from the agenda of a company that got their feelings hurt. Garbage in, garbage out.