PlayStation appears to be introducing written user reviews on its own digital storefront.
The PS5’s PS Store has allowed players to rate games from one to five stars for some time, but unlike rival digital stores on Steam and Xbox, PlayStation owners haven’t been able to type out their full opinions on games for others to see. That could soon change, though.
A Reddit post titled “Since when does PlayStation allow written reviews?” revealed that the platform operator was asking a select number of players to leave written reviews of certain games. Commenters said PlayStation emailed them to review Helldivers 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Fortnite, and more on the official website. (Good point, Eurogamer.)
Since when does PlayStation allow written reviews? Currently, this only seems to be allowed for a few games on the store pages. from r/playstation
Currently, only certain games can be reviewed, you must own the game digitally, and there’s no way to leave a review directly from the console, although Xbox allows that option. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as Steam’s user reviews can sometimes be flooded with jokes, memes, and off-topic discussions – perhaps having so many requirements helps filter out frivolous responses.
The more restrained approach to user reviews could also prevent a repeat of situations like the Helldivers 2 debacle, as review bombing campaigns on Steam are now used as a way to pressure companies to make changes to a game. Restricting who can leave reviews and where they can be left probably takes some of the punch out of the whole thing, although the feature may see some improvements as it quietly rolls out.
Now might not be a good time to open the doors to user reviews, as Helldivers 2 players are up in arms over the flamethrower nerfs.
