Steam has activated its countermeasure against review-bombing since its comeback in response to Borderlands 3’s Epic Games Store timed exclusivity. These reviews are labeled as “off-topic reviews”, and their score is excluded from a game’s average by default.
The announcement came via the Steam Database Twitter account, which also points out that Borderlands 2 is the first game to benefit from this feature. It goes on to say that over 4000 reviews have been excluded from the game’s Review Score calculation.
Borderlands 2 is the first game on Steam to make use of the "off-topic reviews" marking. Over 4000 reviews are excluded from the rating calculation. pic.twitter.com/kUMN0Lqdx3
— SteamDB (@SteamDB) April 6, 2019
While their scores are not taken into account when calculating a game’s overall review score, the reviews themselves are still there. So while the score will remain accurate and relevant to the game’s performance, you can still read the off-topic review bombs if you choose to do so.
This reaction from Steam will certainly be appreciated by video game publishers, as their older games won’t be affected by their publishing decisions. That said, it remains one of the few avenues of feedback to developers and publishers that are unresponsive to directly communicated feedback.
(Source: Steam Database / Twitter via Eurogamer)
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