GTA 6 publisher issues stark warning about review bombing

Review bombing has become more prevalent in recent years with players happily taking to social media and review sites to criticise the smallest of issues.

Whether it is for legitimate reasons such as Helldivers 2 requiring all players to have access to a PSN account in order to access the game.

Or if it is for bigoted reasons such as Aloy kissing another girl in Horizon Forbidden West or one of the main characters of Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail being voiced by a transgender voice actor.

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Gamers will find a way to share their frustrations even if that means taking to review websites and spamming negative comments and scores without any consideration for the people who worked tirelessly on the game.

That is why Grand Theft Auto VI publisher Take-Two Interactive recently spoke about the review-bombing epidemic during its 10-K SEC filing.

The annual report containing a summary of recent financial performance saw the GTA VI publisher acknowledge the effect review-bombing has on its latest releases.

“Obtaining and maintaining high ratings of our games on the third-party platforms on which we operate are important as they help drive players to find our games,” Take-Two writes.

“If the ratings of any of our games decline or if we receive significant negative reviews that result in a decrease in our ratings, our games could be more difficult for players to find or recommend.

“In addition, we may be subject to negative review campaigns or defamation campaigns intended to harm our ratings.

Any such decline may lead to loss of players and revenues, additional advertising and marketing costs, and reputation harm.”

We have seen in the past how review-bombing has oftentimes made developers and publishers go back on certain decisions. Such was the case with Helldivers 2 earlier this year.

However, it is also clear that the results of consecutive low scores and negative reviews does have an impact which is especially disappointing if the reasons for them are unwarranted.

Let us hope this is not the case when Grand Theft Auto VI is finally released next year.