Sometimes, you just need to howl into a void. Say whatever else you will about it, but 2018 provided us with no lack of voids into which to howl our agonized cries. Steam’s review section sure was one of them—and an illuminating one, at that.
This year, Steam’s user-powered review engine kept chugging along, but it ended up hitting some pretty serious bumps in the road. Despite (and, in part, because of) Valve’s chart-based review bomb detection system, review bombs became more visible than ever, with irate mobs using a big influx of negative reviews to punish developers for everything from women generals to sales that happened too early.
The creators of Epic’s new game store saw that toxicity and hope to counteract it by offering developers an opt-in review system rather than a mandatory one.
That may or may not end up being the right call, but either way, that decision shines an unflattering light on how caustic Steam’s environment has become.
Still, in 2018, some Steam reviews remained useful – or, failing that, they were at least entertaining.
Comments
8 responses to “2018, As Told By Steam Reviews”
Missing text on the Battletech one.
Good to know. I thought it might have just been too subtle for me.
What? You guys don’t get it?
…nah, can’t leave it like that. Yeah, looks like missing text.
There wasn’t text on the original image when I did the post many moons ago, sorry!
Maybe it’s that good that words just can’t describe it.
Clearly one of those “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” deals.
Steam reviews are incredibly important because they give the customer one thing they never had. A voice (though a tiny tiny voice), something that is truly undervalued when the titans of our medium seem only interested in satiating the insatiable money hunger of shareholders, and NOT their customers.
When I purchase a game I first check out many sources. Some are reviews from critics some are reviews from players ALL are important. Sure sometimes people review bomb over silly issues. But you can’t ignore that alot of review bombs that happened for solid reasons that were anti consumer, that people deserved to know about before purchasing a game.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion.
I take the user reviews with a grain of salt but I to go through them before I make a purchase. It’s fairly easy to find ehich ones are genuine or not and I have even noticed some users that have similar tastes to myself review games I’m interested in. Those reviews I take very seriously as unlike critical reviews I know these people like and dislike the same things I do.