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There's an opt-in review system in the works for the Epic Games Store

Epic's Tim Sweeney says this approach aims to counteract things make other review systems unreliable, like review bombing.

Alissa McAloon, Publisher

January 31, 2019

1 Min Read

One of the chief differences between the Epic Games Store and Steam, outside of revenue share splits, is the former’s lack of user reviews and other feedback-focused tools.

But Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney says that difference won’t stand for long.

Epic Games currently has a review system in the works for its store, though Sweeney notes that developers won’t be required to have user reviews on their games’ store pages. 

Instead, the system will require devs to opt-in to reviews, something Sweeney notes on Twitter aims to counteract review bombing and “other gaming-the-system” type issues that tend to plague user reviews. The system will be based on the review setup for the Unreal Engine Marketplace, as well.

Steam has introduced changes to its own review system in the past to try and mitigate review bombing, or when people flood a game with negative reviews as a reaction to something other than the game’s quality. Steam will flag when a high number of reviews suddenly flow in and display a chart showing review trends when it detects foul play.

All of these safeguards can currently be found on the Steam Store pages for Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux where scorned Steam users are bombarding both games with negative reviews to protest Deep Silver’s recent decision to host the latest PC Metro game, Metro Exodus, exclusively on the Epic Games Store for one year.

About the Author(s)

Alissa McAloon

Publisher, GameDeveloper.com

As the Publisher of Game Developer, Alissa McAloon brings a decade of experience in the video game industry and media. When not working in the world of B2B game journalism, Alissa enjoys spending her time in the worlds of immersive sandbox games or dabbling in the occasional TTRPG.

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