Review bomb

{{short description|Advocacy through negative Internet user reviews}}

A review bomb is a malicious Internet phenomenon in which a large number of people or a few people with multiple accounts{{cite web |title=Random: AI: The Somnium Files Got Review-Bombed By Someone Obsessed With One Of Its Characters |url=https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/02/random_ai_the_somnium_files_got_review-bombed_by_someone_obsessed_with_one_of_its_characters |website=Nintendo Life |date=12 February 2020}} post negative user reviews online in an attempt to harm the sales or popularity of a product, a service, or a business.{{Cite news|url=https://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/05/steam-review-bombing-is-a-problem/|title=Steam 'Review Bombing' Is A Problem|last=Grayson|first=Nathan|work=Steamed|date=19 April 2015|access-date=2017-08-10|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810131259/http://steamed.kotaku.com/steam-review-bombing-is-a-problem-1701088582|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} While a large number of negative reviews may simply be the result of a large number of customers independently criticizing something for poor quality, a review bomb may also be driven by a desire to draw attention to perceived cultural or political issues,{{cite web | url = https://www.polygon.com/2020/2/6/21126787/steam-review-bombs-policy-effectiveness-valve | title = Valve intervened in 44 'review bomb' incidents on Steam last year | first= Charlie | last= Hall | date = February 6, 2020 | accessdate = February 19, 2020 |work = Polygon }} perhaps especially if the vendor seems unresponsive or inaccessible to direct feedback.{{Cite web | url = https://www.polygon.com/2017/10/4/16418832/pubg-firewatch-steam-review-bomb | title = The anatomy of a review bombing campaign | first = Ben | last = Kuchera | date = October 4, 2017 | accessdate = October 4, 2017 | work = Polygon | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171005051009/https://www.polygon.com/2017/10/4/16418832/pubg-firewatch-steam-review-bomb | archive-date = October 5, 2017 | url-status = live | df = mdy-all }}{{cite web | url = https://www.vice.com/en/article/valves-solution-to-review-bombing-ignores-steams-longstanding-problems/ | title = Valve's "Solution" to Review Bombing Ignores Steam's Longstanding Problems | first = Patrick | last = Klepek | date = September 19, 2017 | access-date = September 19, 2017 | work = Vice | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170919224213/https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/xwgdek/valves-solution-to-review-bombing-ignores-steams-longstanding-problems | archive-date = September 19, 2017 | url-status = live | df = mdy-all }} Review bombing also typically takes place over a short period of time and meant to disrupt established ratings that a product already has at review sites, sometimes backed by campaigns organized through online message boards. It may be used as a mass-movement-driven coercion tactic, as a form of protest, or may simply be a form of trolling. Review bombing is a similar practice to vote brigading.

The practice is most commonly aimed at online media review aggregators, such as Steam, Metacritic, IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, or app stores. It may be motivated by unpopular changes to an established franchise, political or cultural controversies related to the product or service, or to the actions of its developers, vendors, or owners. Some owners of aggregate systems have devised means to detect or prevent review bombing, such as only allowing reviews from official sources such as web sites and/or magazines and, in the case of Steam, only allowing people who legitimately own the game to leave a review on it.

Origin

One of the first appearances of the term "review bomb" was in a 2008 Ars Technica article by Ben Kuchera describing the effect in regards to Spore, in which users left negative reviews on Amazon citing the game's perceived lackluster gameplay and digital rights management system. Kuchera wrote "Review-bombing Amazon is a particularly nasty way of getting the point across as well; casual gamers who aren't aware of this campaign may not bother to read the content of the reviews and only assume the game isn't very good."{{Cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2008/09/gamers-fight-back-against-lackluster-spore-gameplay-bad-drm/|title=Gamers fight back against lackluster Spore gameplay, bad DRM|last=Kuchera|first=Ben|date=2008-09-08|website=Ars Technica|language=en-us|access-date=2019-11-18}}

History

= Video games =

The increasing prevalence of review bombing was precipitated by the increase in influence of online user reviews in the main storefronts where games are sold, combined with little to no oversight of the content of these reviews. This is particularly true in the case of Steam, the predominant seller of PC games, where user reviews are often the only way for indie games to gain attraction on the service. According to Steam Spy, review bombing generally has little effect on a game's sales, and may in fact even increase them due to the resulting wave of publicity.{{Cite news|url=http://www.pcgamer.com/steam-review-bombing-is-working-and-chinese-players-are-a-powerful-new-voice/|title=Steam review bombing is working, and Chinese players are a powerful new voice|work=pcgamer|date=28 June 2017|access-date=2017-08-10|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810131533/http://www.pcgamer.com/steam-review-bombing-is-working-and-chinese-players-are-a-powerful-new-voice/|archive-date=10 August 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}} However, it may be a symptom of decreased customer goodwill, which can have a more long-lasting effect on the publisher, developers or game series being criticized. Depending on how such situations are resolved, the effects of a review bomb may be reversed by the removal of negative reviews as in the case of Titan Souls,{{cite web | url = https://www.pcgamesn.com/history-of-steam-review-bombing | title = A brief history of how Steam review bombing damages developers | first = Kirk | last = McKeand | date = October 12, 2017 | accessdate = October 12, 2017 | work = PCGamesN | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171012233506/https://www.pcgamesn.com/history-of-steam-review-bombing | archive-date = October 12, 2017 | url-status = live | df = mdy-all }} Death Stranding,{{cite web |last1=Ramsey |first1=Robert |title=Death Stranding User Score Spikes as Metacritic Removes Over 6000 Negative Ratings |url=http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2019/12/death_stranding_user_score_spikes_as_metacritic_removes_over_6000_negative_ratings |website=Push Square |date=7 December 2019 |accessdate=9 December 2019}}{{cite web |last1=Adams |first1=Robert |title=Over 6000 negative Death Stranding reviews removed by Metacritic |url=https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/622041-over-6000-negative-death-stranding-reviews-removed-metacritic |website=Game Revolution |date=6 December 2019 |accessdate=9 December 2019}} and Helldivers 2.{{cite web | url = https://www.ign.com/articles/helldivers-2s-operation-clean-up-is-a-community-driven-major-order-to-post-positive-steam-user-reviews-after-psn-backlash-and-its-working | title = Helldivers 2's Operation Clean Up Is a Community-Driven Major Order to Post Positive Steam User Reviews After PSN Backlash — and It's Working | first= Wesley | last =Yin-Poole | date = May 7, 2024 | accessdate = May 7, 2024 | work = IGN }}

=Film and television=

Theatrical films and television series have also been subject to review bombing, typically due to perceived social issues related to the cast and crew and not due to any aspect of the film or series itself. This extends not only to user review scores on sites like Rotten Tomatoes but to the film's promotional trailers on YouTube.

Amazon Prime Video series The Boys{{'}} second season was review bombed due to its release schedule, and fourth season due to its politics.{{Cite web |date=2020-09-12 |title=Here's Why Fans Flooded 'The Boys' Season 2 With Bad Reviews |url=https://uproxx.com/tv/the-boys-season-2-review-bombed-explained/ |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=UPROXX |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Ulatowski |first=Rachel |date=2024-06-18 |title=How Did It Take Four Seasons for MAGA To Realize 'The Boys' Is About Them? |url=https://www.themarysue.com/the-boys-season-4-how-did-maga-only-just-realize-its-about-them/ |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=The Mary Sue}}

=YouTube=

YouTube's voting system has also been used for review bombing, where dissatisfaction over a creator or a video's content may attract campaigns to "dislike" a video on mass scale, with a goal to be among the most-disliked videos on the service.{{cite web |last1=Gilliam |first1=Ryan |title=YouTube will still let you dislike a video, but the world will never know |url=https://www.polygon.com/22775015/youtube-dislike-counter-button-change-blog-announcement |website=Polygon |access-date=2025-03-28 |date=2021-11-11}}{{cite web |last1=Alexander |first1=Julia |title=YouTube wants 'dislike mobs' to stop weaponizing the dislike button |url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/1/18207189/youtube-dislike-attack-mob-review-bomb-creator-insider |website=The Verge |access-date=2025-03-28 |date=2019-02-02}} In December 2018, YouTube Rewind 2018 overtook Justin Bieber's "Baby" music video as the most disliked video; it was universally panned and faced criticism for its exclusion of various top personalities on the service, as well as other factors relating to controversies affecting video authors and criticism of YouTube itself.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/13/18137894/youtube-rewind-2018-dislike-shane-dawson-logan-paul-pewdiepie-mkbhd-philip-defranco|title=YouTube Rewind 2018 is officially the most disliked video on YouTube|last=Alexander|first=Julia|date=2018-12-13|website=The Verge|access-date=2019-03-25}} In November 2021, YouTube announced that it will remove the public dislike counts from all videos across the platform.{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=Mitchell |title=YouTube gives dislikes the thumbs-down, hides public counts |url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/10/22773299/youtube-dislike-button-hide-public-count-numbers-small-creator-protection |website=The Verge |access-date=2025-03-28 |date=2021-11-11}} Although the dislike button is still in place, this change effectively rendered the "dislike" bombing pointless.{{cite web |last1=Binder |first1=Matt |title=YouTube will no longer show 'dislike' counts on videos |url=https://mashable.com/article/youtube-dislike-count-removal |website=Mashable |access-date=2025-03-28 |date=2021-11-10}}

= Businesses =

Websites offering user reviews of businesses and other establishments, such as TripAdvisor and Yelp, can also be subject to review bombing in relation to controversies surrounding their proprietors. A notable example included an Elizabeth, New Jersey restaurant owned by the family of the 2016 New York and New Jersey bombings suspect (with many reviews jokingly referring to its chicken as being "the bomb"). Yelp intervened by removing reviews not based on first-hand experience with the restaurant.{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/09/22/494935022/what-happens-when-yelp-restaurant-reviews-turn-political|title=What Happens When Yelp Restaurant Reviews Turn Political?|newspaper=NPR|date=22 September 2016|language=en|access-date=2019-03-25|last1=Danovich|first1=Tove}}{{Cite web|url=https://mic.com/articles/154634/yelp-reviewers-drag-chicken-restaurant-owned-by-nyc-bombing-suspect-s-family|title=Yelp reviewers drag chicken restaurant owned by NYC bombing suspect's family|website=mic.com|date=20 September 2016 |language=en|access-date=2019-03-25}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/aug/17/how-tripadvisor-changed-travel|title=How TripAdvisor changed travel|last=Kinstler|first=Linda|date=2018-08-17|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-03-25|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web|url=https://searchengineland.com/yelp-vs-google-how-do-they-deal-with-fake-reviews-307332|title=Yelp vs Google: How they deal with fake reviews|date=2018-11-01|website=Search Engine Land|access-date=2019-11-13}}

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some restaurants have faced review bombs from the anti-vaccination community for enforcing vaccine passport rules.{{Cite news|last=Kadvany|first=Elena|date=2021-08-05|title=Amid spike in 'review bombing,' Yelp gives restaurants the option to show vaccine policies|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Amid-spike-in-review-bombing-Yelp-gives-16367238.php|access-date=2021-08-13|website=San Francisco Chronicle|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|date=2021-08-08|title=Restaurant reviews: The newest victim of vaccine animosity|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/08/08/restaurant-reviews-the-newest-victim-of-vaccine-animosity.html|access-date=2021-08-13|website=thestar.com|language=en}}

= Authors =

One-star reviews for Gabrielle Zevin's Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, stated “Zionist author” and "It’s not something trendy to be a Zionist; you should know better as someone supposed to be educated to have the right to publish a book.” Some of the reviews appeared before the book had been released.{{cite web |last=Tsapovsky |first=Flora |date=2024-02-08 |title=Review-Bombing for Gaza |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/review-bombing-for-gaza |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=Tablet Magazine}} Other examples include Lisa Barr's Woman on Fire, Talia Carner's The Boy With the Star Tattoo,{{cite web |last=Connelly |first=Irene Katz |date=2024-01-17 |title=This novel is a glowing portrayal of Israel's early days. Now it's being 'review-bombed' on Goodreads |url=https://forward.com/culture/576532/this-novel-is-a-glowing-portrayal-of-israels-early-days-now-its-being-review-bombed-on-goodreads/ |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=The Forward}} and a romance novel by Jean Meltzer.{{cite web |last1=Lapin |first1=Andrew |last2=Cramer |first2=Philissa |date=2024-02-15 |title=New effort underway to track antisemitism in the literary world, where anti-Israel sentiment is widespread |url=https://www.jta.org/2024/02/15/culture/an-effort-to-track-antisemitism-in-the-literary-world-launches-amid-widespread-anti-israel-sentiment-there |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} Barr commented, “I know that I’m on a list with other Jewish authors on TikTok”.

Effects

In some cases, storefronts and aggregates have intervened to stop review bombs and delete the negative reviews. In February 2019, Rotten Tomatoes announced that it would no longer accept user reviews for a film until after its official release.{{Cite web|url=https://www.polygon.com/2019/2/26/18241312/rotten-tomatoes-movie-review-changes|title=Rotten Tomatoes will no longer allow audiences to review movies before release|last=Polo|first=Susana|date=2019-02-26|website=Polygon|access-date=2019-02-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226215623/https://www.polygon.com/2019/2/26/18241312/rotten-tomatoes-movie-review-changes|archive-date=2019-02-26|url-status=live}}

In 2017, Valve added review histograms to Steam user review scores to show how these change over time; according to Valve's Alden Kroll, this can help a potential purchaser of a game recognize a short term review bomb that is not indicative of the game itself, compared to a game that has a long tail of bad reviews. Kroll said they did not want to silence the ability of users to leave reviews but recognized they needed to highlight phenomena like review bombs to aid customers.{{Cite web|url=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-09-19-steam-adds-histograms-to-address-review-bombing|title=Steam adds histograms to address review bombing|last=Sinclair|first=Brendan|date=September 19, 2017|work=GamesIndustry.biz|accessdate=September 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919230622/http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-09-19-steam-adds-histograms-to-address-review-bombing|archive-date=September 19, 2017|url-status=live|df=mdy-all}} In March 2019, Valve stated that it would employ a new system to detect spikes of negative "off-topic" reviews on games: if it is determined that they were the result of a review bomb campaign, the time period will be flagged, and all reviews made during that period (whether negative or positive) will be excluded from the user rating displayed for a game.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/15/18267821/valve-steam-review-bombing-policy-remove-score-count-moderation|title=Valve says it will investigate Steam review bombing campaigns and hide bad-faith scores|last=Liptak|first=Andrew|date=2019-03-15|website=The Verge|access-date=2019-03-25}} This system was first publicly triggered upon the Borderlands 3 review bombing in April 2019.{{cite web | url = https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/04/steams-review-bomb-fix-is-so-far-failing-its-first-big-test/ | title= Borderlands review bomb triggers Steam's "off topic" fix | first = Kyle | last = Orland | date = April 5, 2019 | accessdate = April 6, 2019 | work = Ars Technica }} Similarly, Valve stepped in to stop negative reviews of Rocket League, following the May 2019 announcement that its developer Psyonix had been acquired by Epic Games (leading to uncertainty over whether it would eventually become exclusive to the Epic Games Store).{{cite web | url =https://www.gamespot.com/articles/rocket-league-review-bombed-after-epic-acquisition/1100-6466643/ | title = Rocket League Review Bombed After Epic Acquisition Announced; Steam Steps In | first= Steve | last= Watts | date = May 3, 2019 | accessdate = May 3, 2019 | work = GameSpot }} Valve said that they had to intervene 44 times in 2019 to stop review bombing on Steam.

In 2018, Rotten Tomatoes attempted to broaden and diversify its list of approved critics, who were largely white and male, in an attempt to improve its rating experience. By March 2019, the site no longer accepted audience reviews of a film until after its premiere, as part of an effort to counter pre-release review bombing. Further, it would only accept reviews from persons that have been confirmed to have seen the movie, as verified through theater chains like Regal Cinemas, Cinemark, and AMC Theatres, or through online ticket sales though Fandango.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/03/rotten-tomatoes-captain-marvel-review-ratings-system-online-trolls/584032/|title=A Change for Rotten Tomatoes Ahead of 'Captain Marvel'|first=David|last=Sims|date=March 4, 2019|website=The Atlantic}}{{Cite web | url = https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/23/18637154/rotten-tomatoes-review-bomb-verified-audience-score-reviews-star-wars-captain-marvel | title = Rotten Tomatoes is changing audience review capabilities to tackle review bombing | first= Julia | last = Alexander | date = May 23, 2019 | accessdate = May 23, 2019 | work = The Verge }}{{Cite web|url=https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/introducing-verified-audience-score/|title=We're introducing Verified Ratings and Reviews to Help You Make Your Viewing Decisions|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-13}}

In February 2020, Kunai by TurtleBlaze was review bombed on Metacritic, decreasing its user rating from 8.1 to 1.7 within a day. The studio, having no idea what they had done to trigger this, found that the review bomb was initiated by a single user, using numerous freshly created email addresses to register accounts at Metacritic as to bring down the user rating, all to demonstrate that a single person could have this effect. As Metacritic had no policy to handle or identify review bombing, this scoring impacted the game.{{cite web | url = https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BenjaminDeJager/20200219/358297/Our_indie_game_KUNAI_got_review_bombed_to_a_17.php | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200219170443/https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BenjaminDeJager/20200219/358297/Our_indie_game_KUNAI_got_review_bombed_to_a_17.php | url-status = dead | archive-date = February 19, 2020 | title = Our indie game KUNAI got review bombed to a 1.7 | first = Benjamin | last = de Jager | date = February 19, 2020 | accessdate= February 21, 2020 | work = Gamasutra }} Following the review bombing of The Last of Us Part II in July 2020, Metacritic added a 36-hour delay for user reviews to be added for a newly released game, with users given the message "Please spend some time playing the game" during this period. This was intended to prevent users from adding reviews without having completed a game and minimize the number of reviews that may be added as a result of a review bomb.{{cite web | url = https://www.engadget.com/metacritic-score-bombing-game-review-changes-150200740.html | title = Metacritic changes its user review policy to combat score bombing | first= Christine | last = Fisher | date = July 17, 2020 | accessdate = July 17, 2020 | work = Engadget }}

Reverse review bomb

Infrequently, a review bomb may be used to praise the game, developers or publishers for other actions that players see as beneficial. One such case was for Assassin's Creed Unity, in the week following the Notre-Dame de Paris fire in April 2019. Ubisoft had made Unity free via its storefront UPlay, as the game included a recreation of the Notre Dame Cathedral.{{Cite web| url = https://www.pcgamer.com/assassins-creed-unity-gets-reverse-review-bombed-following-ubisofts-notre-dame-support/ | title = Assassin's Creed Unity gets reverse-review bombed following Ubisoft's Notre Dame support | first = Samual | last = Horti | date = April 20, 2019 | accessdate = April 20, 2019 | work = PC Gamer }} Steam users left numerous positive reviews for the game in the days that followed, with many thanking the developers for the free game and others expressing appreciation for the cathedral's recreation.{{Cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/04/notre-dame-donation-leads-to-flood-of-positive-assassins-creed-reviews/|title=Reverse review bomb? AC: Unity draws praise for Notre Dame preservation|last=Orland|first=Kyle|date=2019-04-19|website=Ars Technica|language=en-us|access-date=2019-11-18}} Unity, which was released in 2014, had received mixed reviews prior to this event due to bugs and technical problems with the game's launch.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/04/19/assassins-creed-unity-is-getting-reverse-review-bombed-with-positivity|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420144056/https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/04/19/assassins-creed-unity-is-getting-reverse-review-bombed-with-positivity|url-status=live|archive-date=April 20, 2019|title=Assassin's Creed Unity Is Getting Reverse-Review Bombed With Positivity|last=Khan|first=Imran|magazine=Game Informer|language=en|access-date=2019-11-18}} While such an event had triggered Valve's safeguards against review bombs, they opted to not enforce it since the effect was meant to be positive.{{cite web | url = https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/22/18636266/assassins-creed-unity-steam-review-bomb-valve | title = 'Positive review bomb' of Assassin's Creed Unity posed a quandary to Steam | first = Owen | last =Good | date = May 22, 2019 | accessdate = May 22, 2019 | work = Polygon }}{{Cite web|url=https://steamcommunity.com/games/593110/announcements/detail/1621770561051427036|title=Steam :: Steam Blog :: Positive "Review Bombs"|date=2019-05-21|website=steamcommunity.com|language=en|access-date=2019-11-13}}

A reverse review bomb may also be initiated by users to try to counter generally negative reviews from critics. Balan Wonderworld was panned upon its launch with a sub-50% Metacritic aggregate score as well as negative user reviews early after its release, but after a few days, a suspect reverse review bomb began with users submitting perfect reviews with similar commentary to reverse the user trend's scores towards a more positive value.{{cite web | url = https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/03/balan_wonderworld_is_getting_a_suspicious_amount_of_1010_metacritic_user_reviews | title = Balan Wonderworld Is Getting A Suspicious Amount Of 10/10 Metacritic User Reviews | first = Kate | last= Grey | date = March 30, 2021 | accessdate = April 11, 2021 | work = Nintendo Life }}

Like negative forms of review bombs, positive review bombs have also occurred as form of protest, such as in the case of anime series Interspecies Reviewers, where it was subject of a positive review bomb campaign targeting the series' MyAnimeList page. The campaign was initiated by anime YouTuber Nux Taku in response to Funimation removing the series from its online streaming platform.{{cite web|first=Crystalyn|last=Hodgkins|title=Funimation Removes Interspecies Reviewers Anime as it 'Falls Outside' Company's Standards|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-01-31/funimation-removes-interspecies-reviewers-anime-as-it-falls-outside-company-standards/.156012|website=Anime News Network|date=January 31, 2020|access-date=February 11, 2020}}{{cite web|first=Eduardo|last=Luquin|title=Interspecies Reviewers: 10 Things You Need To Know About This Controversial Anime|url=https://www.cbr.com/interspecies-reviewers-need-to-know-facts-trivia/|website=CBR.com|date=February 22, 2020|access-date=February 23, 2020}} In wake of the closure of Tango Gameworks by Microsoft Gaming in May 2024, players used positive review bombing of its games like The Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush on Steam to protest the studio's closure.{{cite web | url=https://www.vg247.com/hi-fi-rush-evil-within-games-positive-review-bombed-on-steam-tango-gameworks-closure | title=Hi-Fi-Rush and the Evil within games being "positive" review bombed on Steam | date=May 10, 2024 }}

A negative review bomb can also backfire and incite a positive review bomb of the same target. For example, AI: The Somnium Files was review bombed on Metacritic in February 2020 by a single person through the use of numerous sock puppet accounts. The individual initially claimed that this was meant to highlight the flaws of Metacritic's user review system, but later admitted it was actually because they were upset with how a character in the game was written. Before the cause of the review bomb was known, the game's director Kotaro Uchikoshi used social media to ask for help from fans, who responded by posting positive reviews of the game in an effort to cancel out the negative review bomb. When Metacritic became aware of the review bombing, the negative reviews were removed from the game's page but the positive reviews that were posted in response remained, inflating the game's user score and causing it to temporarily be the website's top-rated Nintendo Switch game of all time while drawing further attention to the game as a result of the failed review bomb attempt.{{cite web | url = https://www.shacknews.com/article/116321/ai-somnium-files-review-bomb-backfires-becomes-top-user-reviewed-switch-game |title = AI: Somnium Files review bomb backfires, becomes top user-reviewed Switch game | first= TJ | last= Denzer | date = February 13, 2020 | accessdate = February 19, 2020 |work = Shacknews }}

Fallout 76 had been originally released to negative reviews by both critics and players on its initial release, but its developers Bethesda Softworks put effort into improving the game over the following year. By the time the game released to Steam in April 2020, many{{who|date=May 2020}} considered the game to have been reinvented for the better in a manner similar to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and No Man's Sky. However, players still upset over several faults with the game's launch attempted to review bomb the game on Steam at this point. The game's community worked to counter this review bomb by posting positive experiences and reviews of the game at Steam and at other community sites to prove the game had been much improved upon the initial release.{{cite web | url = https://www.polygon.com/2020/4/16/21224060/fallout-76-wastelanders-fan-reaction-welcoming-community | title = Fallout 76 fans are ignoring review bombs, laying out the welcome mat | first= Cass | last= Marshall | date = April 16, 2020 | accessdate = April 17, 2020 | work = Polygon }}{{cite news | url = https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/04/15/steam-users-tried-to-review-bomb-fallout-76-but-some-of-its-fans-are-having-none-of-it/ | title= Steam users tried to review bomb Fallout 76, but some of its fans are having none of it | first= Imogen | last= Beckhelling | date = April 16, 2020 | accessdate = April 17, 2020 | work = Rock Paper Shotgun }}