This War of Mine Review Bombed by Chinese and Russians
A statement on the war in Ukraine released yesterday by 11 bit studios has sparked outrage from Chinese and Russian gamers. In retaliation, they are conducting a review bombing of This War of Mine on Steam.
Yesterday, 11 bit studios has discounted This War of Mine along with its DLCs and announced that the revenue generated by it until March 3 will go to the Ukrainian Red Cross as aid for the victims. The developer's decision was well received by the players, thanks to which the game is now among top spots of Steam's bestseller list.
Review bombing by Chinese and Russians
Unfortunately, not all fans of digital entertainment received it positively. Players from China and Russia have started a review bombing of the game on Valve's platform. Their "reviews" - written only now, often after a few or several dozen hours of "fun" - usually do not, of course, refer to what the anti-war title itself offers, but mix politics with video games. It is worth noting that opinions about the situation in the world are sometimes expressed in seemingly positive comments.
The image below shows a few examples of negative posts of this type. I deliberately decided not to translate them. I will only add that some of these "opinions" criticize the approach of developers - as if their authors forgot that almost since the release of This War of Mine you can buy DLCs, the money from which is donated to charity (you can find them here).
Source: Steam.
Response to criticism
Seeing what was happening, the rest of the community started to put up This War of Mine positive reviews. These, too, have little to do with the content of the game, but at least they provide some balance to maintain an optimal feedback rate. It is comforting to know that in order to have a battle on Steam, representatives of both groups must own This War of Mine. Below I include yesterday's announcement from the developers of the game:
"Statement from 11 bit studios:
Today the Russian army attacked our neighbors - free Ukraine. As a Polish studio and creators of the globally acclaimed anti-war game This War of Mine, which speaks of the suffering and misery of civilians affected by war, we would like to issue a statement and oppose Russian aggression. However, words would be empty without meaningful action in a situation where time is of the essence. Therefore, from now on, for the next seven days, all proceeds from This War of Mine - of all versions of the game and DLCs in all digital stores on all platforms, will be donated to a special fund. In a week's time, the money will go to the Ukrainian Red Cross as direct support for victims of the war in Ukraine.
Let this message resonate with everything you know about this war and how war kills people, destroys lives and homes. Let us - gamers and developers standing together - do everything we can to support the victims of the war in Ukraine.
Sincerely,
all 11 bit studios team members
#FuckTheWar
#Ukraine"
