The Borderlands games from Gearbox are currently rated poorly on Steam. The review bombing began after it was revealed that Borderlands 3 is going to be exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a limited time.
Why are the Borderlands games rated poorly? The Borderlands series has been praised in the past. They are very good loot shooters with a decent dose of humor and plenty of crazy ideas. And yet, there are currently a lot of negative reviews on Steam. Affected are Borderlands 1, Borderlands 2, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.
If you read these reviews, it becomes clear that fans of the series are expressing their frustration through review bombing. This is due to the fact that Borderlands 3 will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store for half a year.
Players are not holding back on insults either, creating an ASCII middle finger directed at Epic Games.
Exclusive deals are unpopular
What is the problem? Fans are not happy with how Epic Games snatches exclusive titles for their store. For example, Metro: Exodus and Anno 1800 were removed from Steam only about two weeks before release. Epic Games doesn’t care according to Tim Sweeney whether the studios have already made commitments to other platforms.
Players want the freedom to choose the platform they want to play on. No one wants to be “forced” to use a specific platform.
Furthermore, Epic Games even admitted that the store’s launcher reads data from users’ PCs, such as the Steam library and friend list. And this happens without players’ consent. Many want nothing to do with such software.
This is why they are upset that Borderlands 3 will be available on PC exclusively through the Epic Games Store for about six months.
Gearbox might not be to blame
How does Gearbox respond? Randy Pitchford, head of Gearbox, said that publisher 2K Games makes the decision about which platform a game is released on. Gearbox is only the developer of the game.
Those who want to complain should reach out to 2K Games.
Is this an isolated case? No. Even when the exclusive deal for the shooter Metro: Exodus was announced, there was review bombing of the other parts of the series. Even when it became known that Obsidian’s new RPG The Outer Worlds would be exclusive to Epic’s store on PC for a year, there was a lot of criticism.
Every time the developers were the ones who suffered, although the publishers had negotiated the deal. Basically, we see the same situation whenever a new game – especially when it is highly anticipated – is announced as exclusive for the Epic Games Store.
