Take-Two Sees Review Bombing as a Threat, Believes Marketing is the Only Solution
Predatory business practices have become the norm in the gaming industry in recent years. While undiscerning audiences fall for publishers' tricks, ordinary gamers are left to express their righteous anger through negative reviews. And gaming giant Take-Two sees this as a problem.
Respected journalist Stephen Totilo reported that Take-Two has added review bombing to its list of business risks addressed to investors. The publisher believes that "hostile campaigns" can lead to a loss of players and revenue, as well as damage to its reputation. The only cure, according to Take-Two, is to spend more on advertising and marketing, which, again, will lead to a loss of money.
In recent years, Take-Two has regularly been the target of gamer "backlash": users annually shower the basketball simulator NBA 2K with thousands of negative reviews, claiming that the publisher is creating a casino disguised as a game. However, this does not prevent it from making money and being released annually. Players also reacted extremely negatively to the GTA: The Trilogy compilation, Mafia II: The Definitive Edition, XCOM: Chimera Squad, The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition, and some other projects. As a rule, they simply turned out to be of poor quality.
