Steam free download hit with 'overwhelmingly negative' reviews, you've been warned

Despite being the second instalment in a much-loved franchise, this free Steam download has recently been hit with an influx of negative reviews and it is not hard to see why.

Negative reviews can make or break a game but when it comes to titles which are a part of a beloved franchise, it seems all the more shocking to see an ‘overwhelmingly negative’ rating on its Steam profile.

That has recently been the case for Borderlands 2, as despite being free for a limited time, the Gearbox Software RPG/FPS managed to rack up over 8,000 negative reviews.

What is even more surprising is before the game was made free, it was sitting at a comfortable ‘very positive’ rating.

So what went wrong?

Well, one quick glance at the negative comments will soon give you the full story, especially thanks to reviews from users such as this one.

“Take-Two and 2K Games have updated all their games Terms of Service, turning this game as well as all of their other games into literal spyware,” they explain.

The user goes on to explain that the publishers collect a large variety of data types from its users with much of it including sensitive information.

“Precise location information (if you allow the Services to collect your location), account credentials (user name and password), and contents of communications via chat features and functionality,” is one of many examples.

Not only that but Borderlands 2 also has some interesting information in its Terms of Service.

This includes mods being a bannable offence, cheats/exploits is also bannable (this one is understandable, of course), you can be banned for using a VPN while connecting to online services, and you cannot access game content on a Virtual PC.

This series of bannable offences and the news that Borderlands 2’s publishers can collect sensitive information has not been received well by players and it definitely explains that ‘overwhelmingly negative’ Steam rating.

Borderlands 2 is no longer free on Steam but it seems as though the damage has been done nonetheless.