Steam developer accused of giving players free items in exchange for positive reviews

20.03.2024 - 14:47 / videogameschronicle.com / Chris Scullion

The developer of a Steam game that currently has “overwhelmingly positive” reviews on the platform has been accused of achieving this by bribing players with free in-game items.

As spotted by DualShockers, Reddit user Glavurdan posted a message to Reddit’s Steam page titled “Why is this not breaking the Steam Terms of Service?”

Glavurdan posted screenshots taken from the Steam store page for a game called Shinobi Warfare, which currently has a review rank of ‘overwhelmingly positive’.

Of the 3067 reviews posted for the game at the time of writing, 2925 of them are positive, giving the game an apparent 95% satisfaction rating.

However, Glavurdan also points out that a message on the game’s Discord server (which VGC has verified is still there) tells players that they can gain 1000 free gems for use in the game by leaving a positive review on Steam.

How is this not breaking the Steam ToS?
byu/Glavurdan inSteam

“Hey everyone,” the message reads. “We’ve got another chance for you all to get 1000 free gems! How to do it? Download Shinobi Warfare on Steam, after playing the game you have an option to write a review.

“Write a positive review to our game and take a screenshot to @Zen along with sending your in-game username (login).”

Although the post is from 2022, the practice appears to still be ongoing, with a steady stream of short positive reviews continuing to roll in for the game.

Many of the more recent reviews use the word “nostalgic” or refer to their childhoods, suggesting that there may be a more recent prompt being distributed that suggests players say something of that nature.

The game’s review section on Steam has an asterisk next to it saying: “Steam personnel are reviewing recent user review activity.”

It also notes that the time range between March 2022 and March 2024 “has been marked as containing an abnormal set of reviews that we believe are largely unrelated to the likelihood that you would enjoy the product”.

These reviews “are excluded from the Review Score by default on Steam” but the ‘overwhelmingly positive’ rating seems to suggest not every review has been flagged.

The practice allegedly being carried out by Shinobi Warfare’s developers does go against the Steam Terms of Service. A note on the platform’s FAQ under the User Reviews section says it’s not permitted to make reviewers write positive reviews in exchange for benefits.

“Do not artificially influence review scores,” it says. “Examples include using multiple accounts to leave reviews, coercing other players to leave reviews, or accepting payments or other compensation to leave reviews.”