Steam Review Mafia - The Aftermath

This prior week, I had MellowOnline1 join The W2 Report live stream for an exclusive look at the Obzor Steam Review ring and their effects on the Steam platform.  Today, I would like to follow up with this blog post and say what we all really need to say, Valve needs to change how reviews work, because as things stand now, the review score will eventually be controlled by who buys them for the most money.

If we take a look at the five games that we have discussed on the podcast this week, we can tell a very disturbing trend, they have gathered more positive reviews in recent days DESPITE our coverage and exposure of the ring to Valve.  This indicates that either Valve does not seem to know the inherit dangers of hidden paid reviews, or that they are planning something massive behind the scenes similar to how Guardians of Greenlight exposed the Miped.ru Keys for Votes ring.

For starters though, let's go over the five games that Mellow exposed in the Sentinels article released two weeks ago, and why we can say Mission Accomplished for the Obzor ring (operating since October 2023, if Miped.ru is to be believed).

Lonely Knight - Idle Roguelike RPG

Lonely Knight - Idle Roguelike RPG's Review Score (captured 4/29/2024)

Source: Steam

Now normally, I wouldn't even consider about WHEN the review was first published, but here, we can see the results of what the Obzor Steam Review Ring can really do if they want to in a bloody hurry.  Starting from April 8th and going on ever since, Lonely Knight has racked up some rather impressive positive reviews, if only if some of them were not paid for.  From the April 8th-15th time frame, we can see that they got 60 positive reviews, and from the 15th to the 23rd, they have 23 more positive reviews.  That is 83 positive reviews in less than a month.  Quoting from the Sentinels article, "Lonely Knight is arguably even more blatant when we put what we know to the test, as most of the front page positive reviews it has are fake."

"Lonely Knight is arguably even more blatant when we put what we know to the test, as most of the front page positive reviews it has are fake..." - MellowOnline1: Steam's Fake Review Underbelly - Hundreds of Games are Faking Their Reviews, Here's How

The fact of the matter is that when Valve takes its usual heavy-handed approach to fixing consumer confidence in this manner, the easy solution would be to simply ban this developer and never speak of this again, but what if another developer decides to take the easy way out?  What lessons from this developer's banning can be taught if not for the hundreds of other developers who thought review manipulation was the only way out?  Truth is, there are no easy answers to this question.

SKIBIDI BACKROOMS

Skibidi Backrooms Review History (captured 4/29/2024)

Source: Steam

Skibidi Backrooms, on the other hand, appears to be Obzor's first customers.  With a review history dating back to November 2023, they surged on to the Steam scene with 181 positive reviews that month alone.  Though their recent review scores are on the mixed range out of 83 reviews, they rarely faltered below 20 positive reviews given for any given month.  Very good for someone who forked out $.75 a review (plus the price of a copy of the game)

Monsters Domain

Monsters Domain Review History (captured 4/29/2024)

Source: Steam

Monsters Domain, though not cut and dry as to why they paid for reviews, is another recent customer of Obzor.  However, going by the positive review metric, and the number of positive reviews given for any particular day, it appears that the positive reviews were front loaded, and the developer wanted to keep the reviews going through the launch window.  In my opinion, if you offered a sub-par work, you will get sub-par reviews, and no amount of paid reviews will ever change that.

HOWEVER...

I DID see one thing in the developer's defense.  It is observed in this review.

All-Seeing's Review of Monsters Domain

Source: Steam

In this review, since deleted by the reviewer, someone by the name of Piotr.bator replied to the review.  A cursory Google search revealed him to be the president of G-Devs, one of the developers behind the game.  As seen in this investor news article, translated into English by Google, he was elected president on the 8th of May, 2023.

Why a president of the developer would personally respond to such a review, I wouldn't know...

Dragonheir: Silent Gods

Dragonheir: Silent Gods Review History (Captured 4/29/2024)

Source: Steam

Now this is a real dicey one.  I can not with 100% certainity say that ALL of the positive reviews for this game have been paid for by the Obzor ring, but I can certainly say that some of them ARE.  353 Positive reviews on the first 5 days of release, since settled into a Mixed rating, this developer has had a history of giving out stuff for positive reviews in the past, such as this Facebook post, where a positive review is not necessary, but implied...

Why Valve never actually did anything is a mind puzzle.

!Anyway!

!Anyway!'s Review History (captured on 4/29/2024)

Source: MellowOnline1 (via Steam)

Perhaps the most brazen to come out of the Obzor bunch, this game has a staggering 28 positive reviews in March, and 27 positive reviews in April.  The game has had a steady diet of positive reviews, dating back to Obzor's opening of operations, but here's the tricky bit.  The 55 reviews has given the game a sudden burst of popularity in March and April.

What Can Valve Do About Reviews Moving Forward?

While there is no easy solution, a good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied 10 minutes later, or so George Patton once said.  The fact of the matter is, while this is by NO means a perfect solution, it is something that I feel should be discussed now, rather than to allow people like some unknown who hides behind a screen of anonymity control what gets popular on the Steam marketplace, in particular among the indie market, like a mafia Don.

I should preface this by saying that this should be 100% Opt-In.  No exceptions.

What I propose is this, a two-level review metric should be available on any game, at any time.

First Level: Global Review Score

The Global Review Score should remain the Status Quo on how reviews are weighed and displayed on an individual game.  

Second Level: Regional Review Score

The second level should be how each region scores each game.  This isn't sorted by language region, but rather by economic regions.  ALL reviews would count to this score, but to display it, you would have to opt-in, not opt-out.  If there are less than 5 regional reviews for a particular title on Steam, then this review score would not be displayed.

Again, this is by no means a perfect solution, but it is a solution.  And that is all I offer at this point in time.

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Author: Sanji Himura

The Taxman to some, Sanji Himura founded The W2 Report blog back in 2017 on the heels of the Digital Homicide saga.  Disillusioned by modern gaming, Sanji speaks about the industry's health as a whole and what can be done to improve it.  Firmly believes that "An educated consumer is the best customer." applies to gaming.