Steam Counters 4,000+ Borderlands Review Bombs
With so much to offer such as plentiful characters, updated gameplay and the possibility of Elon Musk’s crazy flamethrower, Borderlands 3 would seem to be the threequel fans were waiting for. However, it appears many are drawing the line at rival storefronts, the title’s announced debut for the Epic Games Store resulting in the entire Borderlands series being review-bombed by droves of upset fans.
However, it seems those hoping to grief the Gearbox games’ review scores may want to make other plans. Though they appeared to have made a dent in each game’s review score (most visibly with Borderlands 2), these negative ratings have since been silenced by Steam as part of its recently-deployed countermeasure system. The review section of these titles now features a large asterisk citing “abnormal” and “off-topic” comments.
Borderlands 2 is the first game on Steam to make use of the “off-topic reviews” marking. Over 4000 reviews are excluded from the rating calculation. pic.twitter.com/kUMN0Lqdx3
— Steam Database (@SteamDB) April 6, 2019
In a statement released to Arts Technica, Valve Marketing VP Doug Lombardi addressed the recent review bombing retaliation, noting:
After a review of current review activity on Borderlands titles, the decision was made to tag the franchise for off-topic reviews on Steam, effective immediately. As a result, user reviews submitted while the titles are tagged will not count towards the games’ Review Scores. User reviews written during the tagged period will still be accessible and users can choose to include these reviews in the Review Score by changing their preferences.”
As review bombing has become an unfortunate trend as of late, any type of solution from Valve is at the very least encouraging. While this fix doesn’t remove any of the illegitimate critiques, a lacking factor into the review score is definitely better than how things operated in the past.
What do you think? Are you glad to see Steam respond to Borderlands review bombers? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more headlines recently featured on DFTG, check out these next few news stories:
Eric Hall2712 Posts
Phone-browsing Wikipedia in one hand and clutching his trusty controller in the other, the legendary Eric Hall spreads his wealth of knowledge as a writer for Don't Feed the Gamers. Be sure to catch his biweekly "Throwback Thursday" segment for a nostalgic look at trivia from the past.
