Mere days after the ability to leave customer reviews was noticed by the users of reddit, Nintendo has removed the reviews area. The area was meant for Switch owners to review their games.
After an inquiry was made as to the reason for the removal, Nintendo of America indicated that the reviews section was a “trial” feature, and that “the response has been positive”. They then made mention that they will be evaluating the concept and do not have any indication of a date for its return.
Polygon reported that redditors had discovered the reviews section, and its subsequent removal. The section allowed Switch owners to review games in the eShop. While the users could input text, Nintendo was also asking the reviewers to tag the games with what appears to be preexisting tags such as: “kid appropriate”, “great characters”, and “easy to learn”. Presumably the addition of tags would allow for a new sort of search-ability in the eShop. The reviews functionality lasted just five days,
Nintendo has had an uneven history of embracing features that gamers of other consoles have taken for granted. Originally Nintendo had been against the uploading of any gameplay videos involving their games to popular video sites such as Youtube. Nintendo eventually developed a program called the Nintendo Creators Program, and an initiative under the NCP called “Let’s Play” that allowed gamers to upload footage to Youtube and receive a portion of the ad revenue they’d otherwise receive– after Nintendo first took their cut for owning the intellectual property involved. The gaming giant’s policies towards fan interaction with Nintendo copyrighted material have been called into question on repeated occasions.
While the situation is potentially as described by Nintendo– a trial that has run its course and was ended in order to evaluate the response and data, the duration of that trial smacks of buyer’s remorse. It is not difficult to envision a reality in which Nintendo was unprepared for the volume of reviews, or of the content of those reviews. There are multiple incidents that arise annually regarding the use of social media and reviews to foster hate speech, troll, or be otherwise inappropriate. Nintendo bills itself, more than any other console maker, as a family company. Allowing the gaming community to run rampant over any platform would likely garner responses antithetical to Nintendo’s image. Only time, and any revisions to how the review functionality works, will tell whether the 5 day review period was a case of trial evaluation or near-instant regret.
Source: Polygon
