PlayStation rolls out controversial new feature for PS4 and PS5

PlayStation users can now utilise a new rating system, allowing them to rate games on a five-star scale.

Reviews are, quite obviously, very helpful. Naturally, opinions on a certain game will differ from person to person but you can certainly get an idea of what to generally expect from a review, whether that be from a critic or simply a player. We know all too well though that user scores can often be warped by review bombing. You need look no further than Horizon Forbidden West which received a vitriol of homophobic hate after Aloy came out as gay. Thankfully, Sony’s new user rating system seems to implement a feature that should stop the kind of review bombing we see on sites like Metacritic.

Take a look at GAMINGbible’s preview of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 below.

As reported by Push Square, PlayStation’s new five-star rating system only allows users to give the game a rating if they own it. Of course, this won’t completely stamp out review bombing but it should reduce it. It goes without saying that there is a distinct difference between review bombing and simply leaving a negative review, before someone inevitably tells me so. It’s perfectly okay to dislike a game. It is not okay to review bomb it to promote a hateful rhetoric, especially if you haven’t even touched that game.

It’s unknown exactly when the new review feature went live. Sony hasn’t particularly shared any information on it. Push Square adds that users spotted the feature for the first time within the last 24 hours. It could be the case that it’s quietly being rolled out. To see if you have access, head to the PS Store, click ‘View Product’ on a particular game and you should be able to then see a ‘Ratings’ tab.

The Ratings page shows how many people rated a game a certain star-rating, plus there will be a number of written user reviews. Hopefully, this will prove to be a useful feature.

Topics: PlayStation 4, PlayStation, PlayStation 5