Blizzard‘s Diablo IV hit Steam on October 17 and already has a “Mixed” user rating, with only 50% positive reviews. However, while many of these negative reviews seem legitimate, it also appears that Diablo IV is also suffering from review bombing.
Steam users vent their anger at Blizzard in Diablo IV reviews
Diablo IV is a polarizing game. Most critics liked it, and Diablo IV reportedly made over $600 million in its first five days. However, there has been plenty of controversy due to the game’s cosmetic microtransactions and Season Pass approach to DLC content. The various controversies around Overwatch 2 likely don’t help either.
However, while there are legitimate criticisms of Blizzard and Diablo IV, the game has more than a few suspect Steam reviews. Many of its negative reviews come from players with less than one hour in-game. Several only played for half an hour or less, with more than one account showing 0.1 hours spent in the game. Granted, some of these reviews come from people who played the game on Blizzard’s Batttle.net. A few are quite useful and go into extensive detail about the game.
However, others barely talk about it at all and are more interested in insulting or making fun of Blizzard. This applies to the two reviews that other Steam users rated as the most helpful. “During my childhood Blizzard couldn’t get it wrong. As an adult, they can’t get it right,” says one. “I know Blizzard gets a lot of hate, but personally, I don’t think it gets enough,” reads another. Other highly-rated reviews include, “Thank you Gaben for making this negative review possible,” and “A Diablo game without Diablo.” The game also catches a few stray shots targeting Blizzard’s Overwatch 2.
Again, this isn’t to say that all of the game’s negative reviews are unearned. Some Diablo IV players experience crashes on the Steam version, and there are major issues with its always online functions. However, the overwhelming negativity seems to be at odds with Diablo IV’s commercial success.
