Opt-In Review System in the Works for Epic Games Store

Megalith

Megalith

24-bit/48kHz
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
13,000
The Epic Games Store has avoided implementing a feedback system to “avoid the toxicity that has developed over the years on Steam,” but CEO Tim Sweeney has given in to criticism: he tweeted last weekend that reviews were indeed coming, but developers will have full power over whether gamers will be able to leave feedback on titles. “We think this is best because review bombing and other gaming-the-system is a real problem.”

The revelation came via founder Tim Sweeney on Twitter, responding to complaints that the Epic Games Store is trying to "silence consumers" by not allowing them to offer any feedback on the marketplace or the games it sells. When the Epic Games Store launched at the tail end of 2018, there was no way for users to interact with it beyond buying games. There is no system for reviews or ratings and no forums. This was a conscious choice to avoid the toxicity that has developed over the years on Steam, but it has still frustrated some of the store's customers.
 
I like reviews. Some are out there - but they at least give the consumer an idea about the product.
 
opt-in review is as good as having nothing, if you are waiting for devs to allow criticism, well out of luck, gamers will just need to voice their feedback elsewhere.
i must admit, i was mistaken about Epic Store, i thought it would bring competition and change PC gaming for the better, but sadly this store is for Devs not consumers, gamers will be relagated to 2nd or 3rd place in exchange for 5-10$ savings, you will be treated like shiet.
and i come to realize, that Epic Store will most likely fail, simply because it's being managed by someone who looks at everything from a developer points of view, maybe Tim Sweeney should go back to coding and let someone else handles the store.
 
Last edited:
In what world does opt in reviews work. No other site/service that does. Movies don't have opt in reviews on IMDB. Amazon products don't have opt-in reviews. The list goes on. opt-in reviews, that is hilarious. Any game that doesn't opt-in would worry me.
 
Where are these “toxic” reviews on Steam? I’ve seen the one liner useless reviews (easily skipped over), but don’t recall any that were toxic per se.

Negative reviews? Sure. People tend to leave negative reviews for bad games. Some people also leave negative reviews for good games because they are nitpickers and also because not everyone will like the same game. Big whoop. As long as they are legit and not written by bots or shills, put the reviews out there. I can read them and decide for myself if I think I’d like the game. Devs who are afraid of healthy and honest criticism worry me. If your game is good, the vast majority of reviews should be positive and will help sell it.
 
Lateralus said:
Where are these “toxic” reviews on Steam? I’ve seen the one liner useless reviews (easily skipped over), but don’t recall any that were toxic per se.

Negative reviews? Sure. People tend to leave negative reviews for bad games. Some people also leave negative reviews for good games because they are nitpickers and also because not everyone will like the same game. Big whoop. As long as they are legit and not written by bots or shills, put the reviews out there. I can read them and decide for myself if I think I’d like the game. Devs who are afraid of healthy and honest criticism worry me. If your game is good, the vast majority of reviews should be positive and will help sell it.
Click to expand...

Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light got review bombed on Steam after the publisher said it was make Metro Exodus an Epic store exclusive. Thing is, with the Steam review system you can ignore all reviews in the last 30 days when something like that happens. Sweeny Tim is just an ass.
 
steakman1971 said:
I like reviews. Some are out there - but they at least give the consumer an idea about the product.
Click to expand...
Yeah it actually does, that or don't trash your companies rep with vile bullshittery. I can't name any serious games that have not gotten what they deserve. Even Monster Hunter World deserved the trashing it got at first despite being a stellar game because of it's lack of support for proper mouse, 21:9 etc. they've fixed that now and recent reviews are doing great, sold amazingly well and still does, their best seller ever. you reap what you sow.
 
lucidrenegade said:
Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light got review bombed on Steam after the publisher said it was make Metro Exodus an Epic store exclusive. Thing is, with the Steam review system you can ignore all reviews in the last 30 days when something like that happens. Sweeny Tim is just an ass.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I wasn't aware of the review bombing in this instance until I started reading more about it here in the other thread. I don't agree with that practice at all and don't think it's right that those previous games are going to have their scores affected by something completely unrelated to them. There are other outlets (Steam forums, the publisher's social media pages, etc.) where people can express their disagreement but I guess in addition to that, they're trying to hurt the devs/pub by leaving poor reviews on an old game (lol, I would think that most people who wanted to play Metro have already bought it, but I guess there may be a moderate surge of sales on previous titles any time a sequel comes out).

Bottom line, the Epic store should allow reviews for all games and just find a way to combat the fake or malicious ones. I can't tell you the number of times I've been looking at random stuff on Amazon and have appreciated having the user reviews there (after checking Fakespot, of course). There may not be a website that reviews a random Chinese made set of measuring cups or a video cable, so reading others' experience with the product is nice. If I'm looking at some random charging cable and there are no reviews, I'm probably not going to take a chance on it. At least for games you can seek out other sources (although I have a questionable amount of trust in most of the big review sites these days, so I'd be more likely to seek out gamers' opinions on here, reddit, etc.) but it sure is nice having them right there on the product page without having to do extra legwork.
 
Last edited:
Noone in marketing ever wants to cede control of the messaging to the punlic, they want to be able to cherry pick reviews. I don't see any major publisher wanting reviews of their games as they know they publish more turds than games of the year.
 
alamox said:
opt-in review is as good as having nothing, if you are waiting for devs to allow criticism, well out of luck, gamers will just need to voice their feedback elsewhere.
i must admit, i was mistaken about Epic Store, i thought it would bring competition and change PC gaming for the better, but sadly this store is for Devs not consumers, gamers will be relagated to 2nd or 3rd place in exchange for 5-10$ savings, you will be treated like shiet.
and i come to realize, that Epic Store will most likely fail, simply because it's being managed by someone who looks at everything from a developer points of view, maybe Tim Sweeney should go back to coding and let someone else handles the store.
Click to expand...

I like your optimism. Unless I missed it, only one epic store exclusive so far has passed any savings on to the buyer.

Of course storefronts have to cater to the devs/publishers. They put the games on the platform, so they have to.

Give it 6-12 months though and they will remember that the players put the MONEY on the platform. Presumably at that point, the epic store will start giving a crap about the paying customers.
 
Between the review bombing, stupid "comedy" reviews, and people complaining that the game's terrible when they still put hundreds of hours into it, they're all essentially worthless.
 
so... there is more to being a gaming storefront then literally just selling the game

:rolleyes:
 
Lateralus said:
Thanks, I wasn't aware of the review bombing in this instance until I started reading more about it here in the other thread. I don't agree with that practice at all and don't think it's right that those previous games are going to have their scores affected by something completely unrelated to them.
Click to expand...

Simple solution. Anyone who has a history of doing this gets banned from making reviews on Steam. If you abuse the system you're gone. Obviously you don't need to ban them from playing online, but anyone who does spam style reviews consistently shouldn't be allowed to continue ruining the review platform for everyone else. I view it similar to cheating. A bunch of assholes that ruin the experience/platform for everyone else.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top