Review bombing
Also said as Review bomb, Off-topic reviews
A flood of negative user reviews in a short time, often about something other than the game itself: a policy, a statement, a store deal.
The store label can move in days, and it directly hits sales. Sometimes it is an abusive pile-on, and sometimes it is the only pressure players can apply, so read what they are saying before you decide which. Steam has flagged and excluded off-topic bombs from scores since March 2019. In 2025 it added language-specific scores, partly because players in different regions can have very different experiences.
Say it
“If a bomb starts, the first post says what happened and what we will do. No blaming players, no asking fans to counter-review. If they are right, we change it.”
Where you’ve seen it
Helldivers 2 got a wave of negative Steam reviews in May 2024 when Sony said PC players would need a PlayStation Network account, even in countries where that service was not available. Sony dropped the requirement within days.
Not to be confused with bad reviews
Bad reviews are people telling you about the game. A bomb is mostly a protest, and may be from people who haven't played it, though they can be right to be angry.