The developers of Ori and the Blind Forrest, Will of the Wisps and their latest title, No Rest for the Wicked, are starting to push back and show frustration towards receiving review bombings for No Rest for the Wicked, a title that is currently in Early Access on Steam.
CEO, Thomas Mahler took to the games official Discord by asking for anyone who has not yet written a review on Steam to go and do so to help the team.
“I think people think I’m joking when I’m asking for positive reviews cause in peoples minds there’s always some big publisher in the background who’ll cover costs…,” Mahler states on official Discord.
“Folks, if you’re writing here and are enjoying Wicked and are excited for future updates, but haven’t left a positive review, it’s entirely possible that we won’t be around in a couple of months to do anything anymore simply because we got review bombed which leads to people not buying the game. Which means we’re not making any money and will have to shut down.”
I wouldn’t ask if our business wouldn’t be dependent on it. I also never write reviews on anything, but if you want to see us actually finish Wicked, it’s detrimental that we get that review score back up.”
Early Access is a way for developers to get a steady flow of income to help support the development of a game, and receive feedback to help adjust the game for its full release later down the line. However, heading into Early Access also comes with a risk. Some went as far as leaving a negative review because Thomas asked them to leave a positive review.
Though the company isn’t in any financial risk currently, as stated by Thomas in a new X post with what he calls a “push back towards those review bombing the game.” It’s bothersome that some will comment for the sake of leaving something negative. As Thomas mentions in the post:
“So I have no issue telling active players who love Wicked that they should go ahead and leave a positive review on Steam. After all, it’s allowed on Steam to buy a game, leave a negative review that doesn’t even talk about the game at all (there are negative Wicked reviews that literally just say ‘.’), and then instantly refund it… and the negative review still counts.”
Now the question becomes, should Steam do anything about their review bombing position towards users? A minimum requirement to play so much of a game before being able to post their nonsensical review? Or should they leave it alone and allow users to post however they see fit?
Let us know your thoughts on the review bombing situation in the comments below.
