Metacritic gets serious after the ‘review bombing’ of The Last of Us and Horizon Forbidden West

‘Review bombing’, which basically means that many users give negative ratings and opinions about movies, TV shows or video games with the purpose of pointing out something that usually has nothing to do with the quality of the product, has been common (although marginal) for decades, but the fact that it has increased in recent years cannot be ignored. We’ve seen examples of this recently with Resident Evil 4, HBO’s The Last of Us, and Horizon’s Burning Shores expansion Forbidden West. All of them were victims of ‘review bombing’ on Metacritic and other websites where the general public can share their thoughts and influence the user rating of a product. Two of the three examples above have been victimized for the same reason, while the third is currently going through the process. This often leads to misleading general perceptions, so it’s good to know that things are going to change soon.

Metacritic has informed Eurogamer that it is “aware of abusive and disrespectful reviews of Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores” and is “currently evolving our processes and tools to introduce stricter moderation in the coming months.” It’s not exactly the first time we’ve heard something like this after toxic comments made headlines, but we hope it’s the last.

Do you think user reviews should be moderated more or stay as they are?