For years, gamers have taken to the internet to voice their concerns and opinions about certain titles and the developers that make them. It’s no big secret that an angry mob of gamers can bring down the sentiment of any title by launching a crusade against said game, making a vast effort to ‘review bomb’ a title based on anything. It could be an update they don’t like or a promise broken by a developer, but these days, the concept of the ‘review bomb’ is all too commonly seen.
Speaking candidly in a recent SEC filing, Take-Two Interactive, the parent of Rockstar Games and publisher of the Grand Theft Auto series, spoke about the harm that review bombing has on a company or a franchise.
‘Defamation Campaigns’
In the recent 10K annual filing, the leadership team at Take-Two Interactive highlighted review bombing as a very real threat, opting to be a little more professional and brand the practice as ‘defamation campaigns’.
In recent months, we’ve seen some developers buckle under the weight of review-bombing efforts – Helldivers 2 is probably one of the best examples of a game that was horrifically review-bombed this year. It’s not fair to say it doesn’t work, as in that particular scenario, changes that caused the negativity to rise in the community were reverted based on Helldivers 2 receiving hundreds of thousands of deliberately poor reviews.
Here’s what Take-Two’s leadership team wrote in the recent SEC filing that was shared by Game File’s Stephen Totilo:
Furthermore, obtaining and maintaining high ratings of our games on the third-party platforms on which we operate are important as they help drive players to find our games. If the ratings of any of our games decline or if we receive significant negative reviews that result in a decrease in our ratings, our games could be more difficult for players to find or recommend. In addition, we may be subject to negative review campaigns or defamation campaigns intended to harm our ratings. Any such decline may lead to loss of players and revenues, additional advertising and marketing costs, and reputation harm.
In the run-up to the release of Grand Theft Auto 6, this could be Take-Two Interactive preparing shareholders for a potential ‘defamation campaign’ aimed at Rockstar Games because of something in the game. Perhaps it’ll be ‘too woke’ for some players, or maybe it won’t have the right networking features or in-game mechanics for others. That’s all it takes at times – developers are forever walking on eggshells.
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BS people have a right to say if a game is bad. Go off of sales everyone will have their own opinions if the sales are good that’s what should matter.
Good. We should have a voice and they should be listening. It’s always annoyed me however, that people call “bad reviews” review bombing. Like it’s some dirty trick. If the game deserves negative attention for a developers disgusting, greedy, anti consumer practices, then it SHOULD receive it. And frankly, this news that we’re actually making a difference in these situations should motivate us to continue to push back on this garbage. Why do you think a game like baldurs gate 3 didn’t face any of this awful, unfair, nasty, bullying called “review bombing”? Perhaps because it’s an amazing game, with a MORE than fair price for hours returned, with zero foul money grubbing tactics or gambling mechanics therein. Just a thought. Oh, and it didn’t release completely unfinished and broken fundamentally, which is the new strategy we’ve seen being used. Release game now, profit now, make the game after. Ummmm NO. Gaming industry NEEDS some dang review bombing. Desperately. We need it more and more often. Let this inspire and motivate us. WE ARE making a difference. They DO feel the consequences of their actions when WE make them. Never stop pushing for better. We love games too much to let this happen.
Reviewing this game poorly based just on this statement.
might as well just do so because of this
Power to the people!! You don’t want bad reviews, stop cramming woke nonsense down the worlds throat. We obviously don’t want it.
Good, that means it’s working.
Wow so guess this is their warning that they are going to start taking legal action against such defamation campaigns in the future. Good luck with your public image after that you dumb bastards
Make a good game like baldurs gate 3 fill it with gender skewing multi race romance options. And complaints are drowned out in sea of positive from all sides. Make a dog turd anything with a “Ubisoft” logo, and you can’t write enough review bombs. Do better. Pay the Devs a fair wage.
I can’t help but feel that Take-Two are completely missing the point.
If enough people feel badly enough about a game to leave a bad review then surely that’s a pretty clear indicator that there’s something wrong with it, and that maybe the developer/publisher should listen to their customers, rather than blaming them for not liking it…
Wow, Take Two seriously do not get the point of review bombings… Like AT ALL….
Oh and good luck taking legal actions.. I’m sure you won’t get punished even more from that….