What actually happened to those negative reviews

[茶泡饭]

I understand that many non-Chinese speaking players are expressing dissatisfaction and confusion over the abundance of negative Chinese reviews. As a player who can understand both Chinese and English, I think it's important to bridge the information gap and, at the very least, understand what's really happening before forming opinions.

Firstly, almost all of those negative reviews revolve around the game's delayed release (it has nothing to do with time zones), a piece of news that was only shared on the Chinese platform (Weibo) and not in the Steam community. Also, when the delay was initially announced, no specific release date was provided, even though the Switch and PS versions of the game had already been released. This has left many players feeling unfairly treated, as those who initially supported the game are the last to experience the full version. And from the tweets, the primary reason for the delay is to enable a discount.

Eight hours after the initial announcement, the publisher finally provided the actual release time. Although, in Pacific Time, it was still the 19th and no actual delay occurred. However, for players who were initially informed of a delay and then told there was no delay again, it felt like an emotional roller coaster (in reality, many people didn't even see the second message, they only learned about the game's delay from the Chinese platform). For players completely unaware of these messages, it was as if nothing had happened. This is why we see such divergent reviews.

Another thing, regarding whether the actions of the game publisher should result in negative game reviews, I believe that the publisher's behavior can indeed impact the gaming experience. Like, delays in release dates can lead to spoilers from other platforms. However, the quality of the game itself should ideally remain unaffected by external factors. Many players are primarily concerned with the game's quality. It might be beneficial for platforms like Steam to distinguish between reviews for the game's content and reviews for the publishers This separation would resemble the way Uber Eats allows users to rate restaurants and delivery drivers separately.

[EEヨ]

可是真的骂的很脏欸你还一直帮他们说话，真是太幸苦了

[茶泡饭]

Originally posted by いい子:

可是真的骂的很脏欸:LIS_pixel_heart:你还一直帮他们说话，真是太幸苦了

这个我确实不否认，他们有些话的确太让我无话可说；我主要是希望这事情的前因后果能让大家了解了再判断，应该这么说“这件事为什么发生”和“具体发生了什么”是两回事

[茶泡饭]

Originally posted by いい子:

可是真的骂的很脏欸:LIS_pixel_heart:你还一直帮他们说话，真是太幸苦了

而且说真的，我个人是真的很不理解发行商的行为，这边steam玩家着急的想知道具体的发售时间，他们什么都不说，最后还是其他人从微博搬运的时间，另一边却在微博说游戏要推迟，然后也不给时间，结果其实所谓的推迟只是为了统一更新时间，让很多人误以为是真正的推迟为了凑后面的节日打折；最后直接导致，唯一受影响的是游戏本身，那群疯狂的玩家评论完就走，也没什么影响，反而是正常游戏的玩家被差评糊了一脸，确实想不明白发行商到底想干什么。

[shadowthief011]

Honestly I don't agree with you, review-bombing a game just because "it was delayed" especially because the distributor dropped the ball, is not a valid reasoning.

The reviews are called "GAME reviews/rating" for a reason, you rate the GAME itself, and not the distributer, and especially not for what in the end is a few hours/days delay in what was a game that was developed for for YEARS.

What the Chinese review-bombers did, will have no real impact on the distributer, but it will do enormous harm to the developer, most indy games only get showcased in steam during their initial release, THAT is the best way for people to learn of your game, but now the devs will miss a huge amount on sales because many people that don't know of the game, will decide a game with 62% mixed reviews is not worth looking into.

Sorry to say but the Chinese review-bombers acted like immature entitled children and their actions are not excusable in the least.

[茶泡饭]

Originally posted by shadowthief011:

Honestly I don't agree with you, review-bombing a game just because "it was delayed" especially because the distributor dropped the ball, is not a valid reasoning.

The reviews are called "GAME reviews/rating" for a reason, you rate the GAME itself, and not the distributer, and especially not for what in the end is a few hours/days delay in what was a game that was developed for for YEARS.

What the Chinese review-bombers did, will have no real impact on the distributer, but it will do enormous harm to the developer, most indy games only get showcased during their initial release, THAT is the best way for people to learn of your game, but now the debs will miss a huge amount on sales because many people will decide a game with 62% mixed reviews is not worth the risk.

Sorry to say but the Chinese review-bombers acted like immature entitled children and their actions are not excusable in the least.

I agree with your perspective, and I also find their behavior distasteful. I wrote this post primarily to clarify the reasons behind the situation, not to express full support for their actions. Personally, I believe that such actions can indeed have a significant negative impact on game developers. However, I also think that the actions of game publishers can frequently affect the gaming experience, or more precisely, the purchasing experience. In this instance, it's like going to a coffee shop, ordering a cup of coffee at the very first (the ea version), and finding that everyone behind you has already received their coffee (Switch and PS version), leaving you uncertain about when your coffee can be ready. Such behavior would affect the reputation of a business in other industries. In the gaming industry, since developers and publishers often operate separately (which many casual gamers may not be aware of), the comprehensive evaluation of the gaming experience by regular players is inevitably influenced by both parties.

So, I have always believed that it would be better if we could follow a model similar to Uber Eats, where the reviews of restaurants and delivery drivers are separate. This is because many publishers engage in practices such as quickly discounting games that were initially released at full price, neglecting certain platforms for extended periods, or habitually releasing multiple versions of a game. These practices may warrant necessary warnings for inexperienced gamers.

[PhantomCat]

Oh no,
Minor release delay: Reason -9

[茶泡饭]

Originally posted by PhantomCat:

Oh no,
Minor release delay: Reason -9

It's not a "Minor release delay", the words they used on Weibo led many people to believe it was a postponement, like 2077, it didn't clarify the 'delay' is just an adjustment to the standard release time on Steam.

[Lucifer]

I notice that the Chinese player-base has a tendency to have this sort of pathetic, entitled and childish behavior towards any game that doesn't cater to them specifically. Just makes me want to buy those games and support the developers even more, Honestly.

[茶泡饭]

Originally posted by Lucifer:

I notice that the Chinese have a tendency to have this sort of pathetic, entitled and childish behavior towards any game that doesn't cater to them specifically. Just makes me want to buy those games and support the developers even more, Honestly.

I don't deny that there are indeed some players who are really childish, and I'm also very disgusted by them. But in this case, it's mainly the wording used by the game publisher that led players to believe that it's a postponement (not a minor delay to match the standard release time) on the Steam version. I can only say that, whether it's those irrational players or the publisher, both are really irresponsible in this matter, and it affects the game developers and the ordinary players who genuinely love the game.

[win trader]

Nah, I completely agree, I saw that this was review bombed and I wanted to see the reasoning behind it.

Just on further inspection, I personally don't think it's acceptable practice for them to release the game as they did. Is review bombing appropriate? Up for debate.

But seeing that it's not just Chinese people having frustrations, but Japanese people saying that they were promised a Japanese translation soon and only waiting 3 years to not be presented one would upset me heavily too.

EDIT: Also apparently they're holding off Japanese PC translations based on the sales of the console version? Why would you do that...

[Lucifer]

Originally posted by 茶泡饭:

I don't deny that there are indeed some players who are really childish, and I'm also very disgusted by them. But in this case, it's mainly the wording used by the game publisher that led players to believe that it's a postponement (not a minor delay to match the standard release time) on the Steam version. I can only say that, whether it's those irrational players or the publisher, both are really irresponsible in this matter, and it affects the game developers and the ordinary players who genuinely love the game.

Even if it's postponed, It's not a big deal. The rational person would say "Oh well, Let's play something else then" I'm not necessarily talking about you or attacking you, But this sort of reaction is unhinged and I've seen this far too many times.

[okcomputing]

Originally posted by Lucifer:

I notice that the Chinese player-base has a tendency to have this sort of pathetic, entitled and childish behavior towards any game that doesn't cater to them specifically. Just makes me want to buy those games and support the developers even more, Honestly.

You're just describing Gamers There happen to be many Chinese users of Steam so when something affects them it is more visible than if, for example, Italians get upset at some country-specific issue.

[Araskus]

thanks for clarifying the situation man. I was confused and almost prepared myself for disappointment after reading some of these initial reviews.

[茶泡饭]

Originally posted by win trader:

Nah, I completely agree, I saw that this was review bombed and I wanted to see the reasoning behind it.

Just on further inspection, I personally don't think it's acceptable practice for them to release the game as they did. Is review bombing appropriate? Up for debate.

But seeing that it's not just Chinese people having frustrations, but Japanese people saying that they were promised a Japanese translation soon and only waiting 3 years to not be presented one would upset me heavily too.

So, I've always believed that there needs to be a way that doesn't affect game developers, a way for players to provide feedback to the publishers, and this feedback should be visible to players. Because even when the game itself is good, the publisher's behavior can be quite off-putting for players. Moreover, in this particular case, the publisher on Weibo directly misled many players into thinking it was a postponement, and quite a few even thought the game wouldn't be released until Halloween.

[茶泡饭]

Originally posted by Lucifer:

Originally posted by 茶泡饭:

I don't deny that there are indeed some players who are really childish, and I'm also very disgusted by them. But in this case, it's mainly the wording used by the game publisher that led players to believe that it's a postponement (not a minor delay to match the standard release time) on the Steam version. I can only say that, whether it's those irrational players or the publisher, both are really irresponsible in this matter, and it affects the game developers and the ordinary players who genuinely love the game.

Even if it's postponed, It's not a big deal. The rational person would say "Oh well, Let's play something else then" I'm not necessarily talking about you or attacking you, But this sort of reaction is unhinged and I've seen this far too many times.

The main reason is that the Switch and PS versions were released on time, which makes people feel like they paid for something, but others who paid later got it before them, while they're left waiting indefinitely for their own. This kind of unfairness can easily trigger irrational emotions in people. If all platforms were delayed simultaneously or if the reasons for the delay were clearly explained, most people would actually find it more acceptable.