Reddit game devs struggle to understand how someone could possibly know ten people who would give their game a pity-review, insist this herculean amount of attention must come from bots or

>"I enjoy analyzing new games on Steam, and sometimes I come across ones that have poor quality but still manage to earn 10 positive reviews on their release date, while other games with similar or better quality have 0 reviews.

>Do developers purchase fake reviews, or do they simply execute a more effective marketing strategy?"

Very funny thread. The gamedev sub gets more pathetic by the week. If you don't know there are two review thresholds on Steam that matter to amateur devs. The first is to get to ten reviews, because then that section of your page will have a thumbs-up on it rather than nothing. It's a bad look to have less than ten reviews so many devs will just have friends or family members review the game at launch. Even with proper marketing this is a useful strategy because it means early wayward visits will see the review rating sooner. The second threshold is at 50 reviews, as this seems to be when the Steam algorithm gives actual attention to your project.

Redditor states the obvious:

Which is met with -

1. Being over 35 makes having ten friends very difficult:

2. Expecting your friends and family to give you a thumbs-up is undignified:

3. It's futile because people landing on a review-less page with no engagement are just as likely to be hooked as a well-reviewed game:

4. Only the truest of heart would give you a thumbs-up:

There's also this very funny slap fight about how steam will remove your project if it thinks you may have dared to ask friends and family to give you a like:

Sane person states that while bots and may be responsible for these likes the vast majority are from associates:

There's a redditor trying to erm acktually:

But this is just out of touch rambling. In the context of meeting thresholds reviews absolutely do matter. In the context of positive ratio reviews absolutely do matter, which he even says in the comment. This is just pretentious nothing. I also find it hilarious that multiple people in the thread are morally grandstanding about how they'd never dare to use fake reviews. You are selling a product. Having 50+ reviews will objectively improve sales and perception of your product. There is no ethical dilemma here.

There's more but I don't like long posts.

I have a very small family, if I throw in "family friends" then those alone could get me over ten reviews. I barely interact with my coworkers, I could likely get ten reviews from them and their kids. I have friends. I could get more than ten reviews from them.

And of course that all assumes I'd actually be asking them to review it. I haven't asked anyone for a single review but I've got a waitlist of 50+ associates wanting to buy and review what I'm working on just because its a basic courtesy that normal people extend. Like how you'd go watch your friends' amateur softball games on the weekend.