Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto 6, views review-bombing as a major risk to their business. As part of a more comprehensive summary of the possible effects of "negative review campaigns" against games, the business made this admission and recently shared it with investors in Take-Two Interactive.

Although the rise of social media and video game review-bombing are closely related, the practice itself dates back to the days of online user review aggregators like GameFAQs. When Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox all began to accept user reviews in the early to mid-2010s, gamers were given an even bigger platform to express their opinions.

Review-Bombing Is Effective, Says Take-Two Interactive

Take-Two Interactive has experienced numerous review-bombing efforts throughout the years. Now that the massive gaming company has formally recognized these online initiatives as a commercial risk, it is clear that they are effective. It accomplished this by releasing its most recent 10-K file, an annual report that covers its operations for the preceding fiscal year. Take-Two's 2024 10-K filing with the SEC contains a lengthy passage emphasizing the significance of obtaining and maintaining high game ratings on third-party platforms, as first noticed by Game File's Stephen Totilo. This is because high scores enhance product discoverability across such storefronts.

According to the petition, "defamation campaigns" intended to lower a game's ratings might therefore materially affect the publisher's operations by resulting in a decline in players, income, or both. According to the risk assessment, Take-Two Interactive may incur additional expenses as a result of these measures, such as having to boost its marketing budget to counteract the effects of "negative review campaigns."

The publisher confirmed in the filing that it views protest campaigns as a distinct but equally significant financial risk, even while it acknowledged the obvious—that torrents of poor customer reviews can occasionally be its own fault if a product is determined to be subpar. That's supposedly because Take-Two Interactive has had a lot of success with these kinds of fan projects lately. For example, the Red Dead Redemption games on the PS4 and Switch were criticised harshly less than a year ago, not because the versions were flawed in any way, but rather because the developers protested that they weren't official remasters.

It's not just the publisher of Grand Theft Auto 6 that has verified that review-bombing is effective these days. When Sony reversed the Helldivers 2 PSN account connecting requirement in May 2024 in response to a significant number of unfavourable reviews from Steam players, it implicitly indicated a similar position.