Steam removes 80,000 player reviews after one game was updated

Gaming

Negative reviews of War Thunder are disappearing on Steam in response to the game’s new economy.


Reviews on Steam are one of the first places to go when wanting to check out a title. Reviews can be given by all players, which in theory is a really good thing because it allows you to see an interesting game from all perspectives – both the player who likes it and the one who is able to point out its flaws.

In practice, however, you may hear about situations that make reviews not a reliable source of information about a given title. All this is due to the fact that reviews can be given by everyone, so there is the so-called review bombing phenomenon, which consists of the mass posting of negative reviews without much reason.

On the other hand, the situation related to War Thunder’s reviews shows that opinions can also be manipulated by game developers.

Removing negative War Thunder reviews

On the War Thunder website, you will notice that Steam is no longer displayed right next to other platforms where the title in question can be found. The change came right after a huge number of negative reviews were written on Steam in response to the economy fixes presented by the developers, which, according to fans, would have made it virtually impossible to play the game without spending money on the free-to-play title.

Despite the fact that Gaijin – the studio responsible for the game in question – announced that the changes would be reversed, the developer removed Steam from its website, even though War Thunder can still be played there. Anton Yudintsev – the owner of Gaijin studio – commented on the issue.

So right now the community is using the negative reviews as a way to express their desire for a change, rather than a backlash against a specific change. The game itself is now the same as it used to be two months ago (excepting routine bug fixes). This is a very fresh and new situation for both gamers and developers. We are ready for the change. Last week we announced that we’re working on a plan for a dedicated economy update, and right now we’re thinking that we’ll present the draft of that plan around June 14th.”

Nothing promises that the boycott is going to quiet down even for a while in the War Thunder community. Players agree that the developers of the game have exaggerated the planned changes and are trying to save their favorite production from introducing mechanics that will make it virtually impossible to play without spending money.

It’s not even pay to win anymore. At this point, it is pay-to-play. The developer is pursuing an extremely anti-client policy driven by greed.

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