author: Jacek Weichert
Epic Games Store Introduces Optional User Reviews
Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, announced that in the near future the Epic Games Store will receive a game review system.
The Epic Games Store may just be several weeks old, but in the meantime it has already landed a few strong blows on Steam, the undisputed king of digital PC distribution – the most painful of which are the loss of The Division 2 and the temporary exclusivity of Metro Exodus. However, the platform itself still has a lot of room for improvement, and its users complain about the lack of some basic functions, including the inability to rate game or share an opinion with the developers. However, Tim Sweeney, the head of Epic Games, assures that a review system is in the works.
Sweeney revealed on Twitter that the way in which the Epic Games Store will handle user reviews is to be based on the solutions borrowed from the Unreal Engine Marketplace. This means that the scores may be given in stars (up to five) and any remarks would be added only as comments. However, in order to curb practices such as review bombing (after the news of Metro Exodus' exclusivity broke out, players deliberately began to intentionally downvote the scores of other Metro installments on Steam), the developers will be able to decide whether or not they want to allow users to issue reviews.
The company decided to implement such solution in order to prevent toxic behaviour of the community towards developers, but it is easy to imagine a scenario in which creators deliberately block feedback from being passed on, thus depriving the users of the chance to make a fully informed purchase. Of course, it's a good idea to wait until the review system is actually implemented, but the question is whether the owners of the platform aren’t going too far in their pursuit of pleasing video game developers – even at the expense of the customers.