Dear Developers: Game Reviews


To opt-in or out of consumer game reviews... that is the question.


EPIC's game store is a place where developers (or publishers I should say) can decide whether gamers can review their titles or not. To opt-in or opt-out... is a great question to juggle.

There could be a benefit in opting out... because of the gamers that rate games based on their ability to play them well. A game's potential can be affected by something that's incredibly unfair, and I totally get that... but opting out can also delay potential sales until platforms like SDGT Entertainment and others provide reviews for gamers that rely on us.

That brings up the benefit of opting in. Reviews can increase the sales of a game if they're positive. I've seen games lacking major advertising... do well with quarterly unit sales and I feel it's because of the positive reviews. I won't say that a good trailer can't sell a game initially... or even the title art, but reviews play their part and can shift sales up.

I think that if Epic made a review system that asked specific questions about likes and dislikes, gamers can get down to the bottom of the yays & nays. This can result in a scoring system that's not the norm. I'm not part of the company so I won't be serving up any ideas on how that can be done... but it can be done to make both sides happy.