Metacritic Scraper

What does Metacritic Scraper do?

Metacritic Scraper extracts rating and review data from Metacritic search results. Search for games, movies, and TV shows by keyword and get structured data including Metascores, genres, platforms, descriptions, and release dates.

Use it for game research, media analytics, review aggregation, entertainment data collection, and content rating tracking.

Use cases

• Game research — Find top-rated games across platforms. Compare Metascores across franchise entries or genres.
• Media analytics — Track critic ratings for movies, TV shows, and games. Analyze score distributions across genres and years.
• Review aggregation — Collect Metacritic data to build rating databases or comparison tools.
• Content discovery — Find highly-rated content by searching keywords. Identify "must-play" and "must-see" titles.
• Market intelligence — Research entertainment industry trends. Compare ratings across platforms and release years.
• Academic research — Gather structured rating data for studies on media reception, genre analysis, and critic consensus.

Why use Metacritic Scraper?

• Multi-type search — Search across games, movies, and TV shows from a single scraper. Filter by content type.
• Rich metadata — Every result includes Metascore, content rating (ESRB/MPAA), genres, platforms, release date, and full description.
• Direct API extraction — Uses Metacritic's backend API for fast, reliable JSON data. No brittle HTML parsing.
• Cover images — Each result includes a direct link to the cover image.
• Must-play/must-see badges — Identifies titles with Metacritic's editorial endorsement badges.
• Pagination support — Scrape up to hundreds of results per keyword with automatic pagination.
• Pay-per-event pricing — You only pay for results scraped. No monthly subscription.

What data can you extract?

Each result in the output includes:

Field	Description
metacriticId	Metacritic internal identifier
title	Title of the game, movie, or TV show
type	Content type (game-title, movie, show)
metascore	Metacritic critic score (0-100)
rating	Content rating (e.g., "E10+", "PG-13", "TV-MA")
releaseDate	Release date (YYYY-MM-DD format)
year	Release year
genres	List of genres (e.g., ["Action", "Adventure", "Sci-Fi"])
platforms	List of platforms for games (e.g., ["PlayStation 5", "PC"])
description	Full synopsis or description
mustPlay	Whether the title has Metacritic's "Must Play" badge
mustSee	Whether the title has Metacritic's "Must See" badge
imageUrl	Cover image URL
url	Direct link to the Metacritic page
scrapedAt	Timestamp when the data was extracted

Output example

{
  "metacriticId": 1300502074,
  "title": "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom",
  "type": "game-title",
  "metascore": 96,
  "rating": "E10+",
  "releaseDate": "2023-05-12",
  "year": 2023,
  "genres": ["Open-World Action"],
  "platforms": ["Nintendo Switch"],
  "description": "An epic adventure across the land and skies of Hyrule awaits...",
  "mustPlay": true,
  "mustSee": true,
  "imageUrl": "https://www.metacritic.com/a/img/catalog/provider/6/3/6-1-939061-13.jpg?auto=webp&fit=cover&height=300&width=200",
  "url": "https://www.metacritic.com/game/the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom/",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-03-03T02:10:00.000Z"
}

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchQueries	array	-	List of keywords to search on Metacritic. Each keyword runs a separate search.
contentType	string	"all"	Filter by type: all, game, movie, tv.
maxResultsPerSearch	integer	100	Maximum number of results to return for each keyword.
maxRequestRetries	integer	3	Retry attempts for failed requests.

How to scrape Metacritic ratings

1. Go to Metacritic Scraper on Apify Store.
2. Add search keywords to the searchQueries list (e.g., "zelda", "marvel").
3. Choose a contentType to filter by games, movies, or TV shows.
4. Set maxResultsPerSearch to control how many results you get per keyword.
5. Click Start and wait for the run to finish.
6. Download your data as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Dataset tab.

How much does it cost to scrape Metacritic?

Metacritic Scraper uses pay-per-event pricing — you only pay for what you scrape.

Event	Price
Actor start	$0.001 per run
Result scraped	$0.002 per result

Cost examples:

• 30 results (1 search): ~$0.06
• 100 results (1 search): ~$0.20
• 500 results (5 searches): ~$1.01

No monthly subscription. Platform costs (compute) are included in the per-event price.

How to use Metacritic Scraper via API

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/metacritic-scraper').call({
    searchQueries: ['zelda'],
    contentType: 'game',
    maxResultsPerSearch: 30,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach(item => {
    console.log(`[${item.metascore}] ${item.title} (${item.year}) - ${item.genres.join(', ')}`);
});

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('automation-lab/metacritic-scraper').call(run_input={
    'searchQueries': ['zelda'],
    'contentType': 'game',
    'maxResultsPerSearch': 30,
})

items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
for item in items:
    print(f"[{item['metascore']}] {item['title']} ({item['year']}) - {', '.join(item['genres'])}")

Integrations

Metacritic Scraper works with all standard Apify integrations:

• Webhooks — Get notified when a scraping run finishes.
• API — Start runs and fetch results programmatically with REST API or official clients.
• Scheduling — Run weekly to track new releases and score changes.
• Storage — Export as JSON, CSV, or Excel. Push to Google Sheets, Slack, or email.
• Zapier / Make / n8n — Connect Metacritic data to thousands of apps and workflows.

Tips and best practices

• Filter by content type — Use contentType: "game" to only get game results, or "movie" for movies only.
• Check mustPlay/mustSee — These badges indicate Metacritic's editorial endorsement for top-rated titles.
• Use metascore for filtering — After scraping, filter results by score ranges (e.g., 90+ for critically acclaimed titles).
• Multiple keywords — Add several search queries in one run to compare across franchises or genres.
• Schedule for monitoring — Run periodically to track new releases and score updates.
• Combine with other scrapers — Pair Metacritic scores with IMDB ratings for comprehensive media analysis.

Use with AI agents via MCP

Metacritic Scraper is available as a tool for AI assistants via the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

Setup for Claude Code

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/metacritic-scraper"

Setup for Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code

Add this to your MCP config file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/metacritic-scraper"
        }
    }
}

Example prompts

• "Get Metacritic scores for the latest PS5 games"
• "Search Metacritic for highest-rated movies this year"
• "Compare Metacritic scores for all Zelda games"

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~metacritic-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "searchQueries": ["zelda"],
    "contentType": "game",
    "maxResultsPerSearch": 30
  }'

Legality

Scraping publicly available data is generally legal according to the US Court of Appeals ruling (HiQ Labs v. LinkedIn). This actor only accesses publicly available information and does not require authentication. Always review and comply with the target website's Terms of Service before scraping. For personal data, ensure compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and other applicable privacy regulations.

FAQ

Why do some results have a metascore of 0 or null? Some titles on Metacritic have not yet received enough critic reviews to generate a Metascore. This is common for newly released or niche titles. A score of 0 usually indicates no score is available, not an actual zero rating.

The scraper returns results of the wrong content type. Metacritic's search API sometimes returns mixed content types even when you specify a filter. Use the type field in the output to filter results in post-processing (e.g., keep only game-title entries).

Limitations

• Search returns results in relevance order only. Sorting by score or date is not supported.
• User scores are not available from the search API — only Metascores (critic aggregate scores).
• The platforms field is only populated for game results. Movies and TV shows have empty platforms.
• Review counts and individual critic/user reviews are not included.
• Only searches Metacritic's catalog — does not scrape individual game/movie/show detail pages.

Can you scrape Metacritic without getting blocked?

Yes. Metacritic Scraper uses the site's internal JSON API rather than scraping rendered HTML pages, which means it avoids the anti-bot checks that guard the front-end. Requests look like legitimate API calls rather than browser crawls, so there is no need for headless browsers, cookie management, or CAPTCHA solving. This approach also makes the scraper significantly faster — a search for 100 results typically completes in a few seconds.

How do you track new game releases and score changes on Metacritic?

Use the scheduling feature on Apify to run the scraper on a recurring basis:

1. Set up a weekly or daily scheduled run in Apify Console.
2. Use consistent searchQueries (e.g., "2026 games", "new releases") across runs.
3. Store each run's output in a dataset and compare across runs to detect new titles or Metascore updates.
4. Connect a webhook to Slack or email to get notified when a run completes with new data.

This workflow is useful for game journalists covering release calendars, developers monitoring competitor launch reception, and data analysts building rating trend databases.

How does Metacritic's Metascore work, and how accurate is scraped data?

The Metascore is a weighted average of critic reviews curated by Metacritic's editorial team. Only reviews from approved publications are included, and each publication is weighted by its influence and consistency. A game needs at least 7 critic reviews (movies: 15, TV shows: 4) before a Metascore is published.

Scraped Metascore data is pulled directly from Metacritic's backend and reflects the same value visible on the website at the time of scraping. Scores can change as new reviews are added, so for research requiring a stable snapshot, record the scrapedAt timestamp alongside each score.

What is the difference between Metascore and User Score on Metacritic?

The Metascore reflects aggregate critic opinion — professional reviewers from outlets like IGN, GameSpot, and The Guardian. The User Score is a community-voted average from registered Metacritic users.

This scraper returns Metascores only (as returned by Metacritic's search API). User scores and review counts require scraping individual title detail pages, which is outside the current scope. If you need both, consider pairing this scraper with a custom detail-page scraper.

How do I compare Metacritic scores across game franchises?

1. Add each franchise keyword as a separate entry in searchQueries (e.g., ["zelda", "mario", "sonic"]).
2. Set contentType to game to exclude movie and TV results.
3. After the run, export to CSV or Google Sheets.
4. Group by franchise using the title field and sort by metascore descending.

This gives you a fast cross-franchise comparison without manually browsing Metacritic. Combining this with the mustPlay field lets you immediately spot which titles earned Metacritic's editorial stamp of approval.

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