Epic Games appears to be in the midst of creating a review system for its fledgling online storefront. The news came via a tweet from Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney in response to a fan’s complaint about no way for consumers to leave feedback saying “no reviews, no rating, no forums” are available for games on the Epic Games Store. The user also accused the company of trying to “silence customers.” In response, Sweeney said a system is in the works, and developers will be able to choose if they will allow user feedback on their games.
We’re working on a review system for the Epic Games store based on the existing one in the Unreal Engine marketplace. It will be opt-in by developers. We think this is best because review bombing and other gaming-the-system is a real problem.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) December 26, 2018
Review bombing, intentionally leaving negative user reviews to harm a game, has become a problem on other platforms such as Steam over the years. Most recently, after Metro Exodus left Steam, Steam users decided to review bomb previous entries in the Metro series to protest that decision. User still decided to do this even though those who preordered Metro Exodus via Steam will still receive their copy of the game and future DLC for the game will still come to Steam.
Since opening the Epic Games Store last December, the company has been finding ways to draw consumers from other online stores. The company has been actively securing games for its store, and has recently partnered with Skybound Games, Ubisoft, and 4A Games to bring major titles TellTale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season, The Division 2 and Metro Exodus to PC exclusively on the Epic Games Store. Epic also recently updated their refund policy on the store to match similar policies elsewhere. The company also plans to release their cross platform tools to developers at some point this year.