Frequently Asked Questions

What is Maximum Utmost?

The top of the toppermost, friend. The uppest of the up. We’re a video game blog unfettered from… whatever fetters other websites.

Wasn’t this called the Game Complaint Department?

From 2017-2024, that was the site’s name. It was intended as a self-deprecating joke toward game critics. That went over the head of a lot of people, so it was renamed something more positive.

Your review scores are suspiciously low. Is this clickbait?

The Maximum Utmost scoring system just works a bit differently than most game sites. Here, anything above a 5 is a recommendation, and the higher you go, the more enthusiastically it’s recommended. Anything below 5 is a recommendation to avoid. If the score is 5/10, it suggests ambivalence. Even a 6/10 here suggests the writer enjoyed the game. They just don’t think it’s the cat’s pajamas, but it’s a mild recommendation.

Are publishers paying you for coverage?

No. Speaking from experience, that doesn’t really happen with written publications. However, monetary compensation for coverage is very common with streamers and YouTubers.

Bias can come from anywhere, but we do our best to disclose any possible direct sources. This includes stating in each review whether or not the author received a free copy of the game. These disclosures can be found at the bottom of a review, below the score.

There are no ads here. How do you make money?

The short answer is we don’t. Hosting for the site all comes out of pocket. Zoey hates ads, so while she’s considered adding a few to help keep the lights on, it hasn’t been deemed necessary. If you want her to lose less money on the site or just want to see her write more here, consider contributing to her Ko-fi. If you’re more into the podcasts, then there’s a Patreon to help out our editor, Daniel.

You’re lying. I just found some above the comments section.

Right, those ads are added by the Disqus plugin. They’re not part of the site. We don’t make any income from them. To get rid of them, we’d need to pay a subscription to Disqus. It’s $12 a month to go ad-free, and, as stated, this site is not monetized. As of now, it isn’t worth paying the fee. We’ll get rid of them one day. If they really bother you, you can use Zoey’s Ko-fi account to send her $12 monthly, and she’ll pay it forward to Disqus.

In the meantime, you can feel free to use an ad blocker. The downside is that they often hide traffic, so we won’t know that you visited. If we get the impression that we don’t have a readership, what would be the point of keeping the site up? Still, ads suck.

Is generative AI used anywhere on Maximum Utmost?

No.

Do you collect any personal information?

We don’t. No. Zoey did her best to put together a privacy policy page, but the short version of it is that Maximum Utmost has absolutely no interest in your location or demographic. However, the site’s host, the various plugins used, and WordPress might have other ideas.

We only care about what pages are being visited, but we respect your privacy if you just want to block all trackers on the site. Maybe just leave a comment instead. Although, then Disqus might collect data…

The internet really sucks these days. We try our best to be the least sucky site around.