TECH NEWS – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is proposing a set of rules that could crack down on fake reviews and put an end to the practice of “review bombing.”

For years, gamers in the video game industry have resorted to “review bombing” to express their displeasure with controversial decisions by developers or publishers. Whether it’s sudden changes in opinion, monetization policies, or performance issues, the community has found a way to get noticed in negative reviews on platforms where they can voice their opinions, such as Metacritic and Steam.

In case you’re wondering and don’t already know, “review bombing” is the practice of users writing mass negative reviews of a video game to protest something they dislike. This usually refers to specific aspects of the game, but it can also be directed at other actions taken by developers. However, it seems that this phenomenon may disappear due to upcoming regulations from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). One of the upcoming rules of the US authority is to ban “fake reviews” in the United States.

How can “review bombing” be stopped?!

According to Lina Khan, the antitrust agency aims to curb online review manipulation, from fake reviews to buying recommendations (after DualShockers). This includes preventing reviews generated by bots, as well as reviews posted by users who have no experience with the product, such as on Metacritic. On this platform, you can leave a review without being checked to see if you have already played the video game, which is not the case on Steam, for example. Let’s add that Valve’s store also sometimes pulls PC versions of games due to console issues, as happened with Helldivers 2 due to PSN accounts.

Although the video game case was not specifically mentioned, these FTC rules could very well apply to our industry.

For example, on sites like Metacritic, which has already sought to prevent “abusive and disrespectful” reviews after the Horizon Forbidden West DLC was pulled. The rules also apply to buying positive or negative reviews. This practice is used by developers for some video games, misleading potential buyers. The FTC believes that there should be no conditions for a user to write a review about a product. However, it is too early to determine what the future of this practice will be. However, it is clear that Lina Khan wants reviews to be more transparent and reliable, as this is necessary for credibility.

Source: X, DualShockers

As of today, @FTC's final rule banning fake online reviews and testimonials has come into effect.

If you encounter any of these prohibited practices, you can report them to @FTC at: https://t.co/k0O6juZImU https://t.co/I2Rf0b9xTH pic.twitter.com/60qp2cRJMU

— Lina Khan (@linakhanFTC) October 21, 2024