“Review bombing”, which basically means that many users give negative ratings and opinions on movies, TV shows or video games in an attempt to point out something that usually has nothing to do with quality of the product, has been common (albeit marginal) for decades, but the fact that it has increased in recent years cannot be ignored. We’ve seen examples of this recently with Resident Evil 4, HBO’s The Last of Us, and Horizon’s Burning Shores expansion Forbidden West. All were victims of “review bombardment” on Metacritic and other websites where the general public can share their thoughts and influence users’ ratings of a product. Two of the three examples above were victimized for the same reason, while the third is currently following the process. This often leads to misleading general perceptions, so it’s good to know that things will change soon.
Metacritic informed Eurogamer that he is “aware of the abusive and disrespectful reviews of Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores” and is “evolving our processes and tools to introduce stricter moderation in the coming months.” It’s not exactly the first time we’ve heard something like this after toxic comments made headlines, but we hope it will be the last.
Do you think user reviews should be more moderate or stay as they are?