Original title: Review bombing the video game industries: Sabotage as political consumer practice
Andrew Wirzburger · September 2026
Big companies often hold far more power than everyday buyers. Since the late 2010s, players have fought back using review bombingCoordinated effort to leave many negative reviews to lower a product's rating.. In this practice, consumers flood a video game with negative online reviews to lower its overall score when they feel wronged. Researchers investigated this behavior by studying two video game cases. They described review bombing as sabotageDeliberately damaging something to disrupt its normal function., meaning an intentional effort to hurt a business's efficiency. They found that how well a campaign works depends on a mix of public spectacleA public event or display that attracts attention. and corporate policy. Even though specific results vary from game to game, review bombing is exceedingly effective at sabotaging the underlying commercial logic of the video game industries as a whole.
A group of people coordinate to leave one-star reviews for a restaurant they've never visited, because they disagree with the owner's political views. The restaurant's rating drops so low that new customers avoid it, even if the food is good. In this paper, video game players use the same tactic against game companies, and the study shows that this sabotage works best when it creates a spectacle and when the company's policies are sensitive to ratings.
Review bombing gives consumers a way to collectively protest corporate actions by damaging a product's reputation. This matters because online reviews are supposed to empower consumers, but companies still hold power. Review bombing reveals that coordinated negative reviews can disrupt the video game industry's normal operations.
The abstract doesn't explicitly state limitations, but it notes that outcomes vary and the study is based on two cases, so generalizability may be limited. It does not quantify the impact on sales or compare to other forms of consumer protest.
Ask anything about this paper. Answers come from its abstract, and say so when the abstract doesn't cover your question.
Review bombing the video game industries: Sabotage as political consumer practice — Andrew Wirzburger — SocArXiv — doi:10.31235/osf.io/p2vnk_v1
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper. This is a preprint, so it hasn't necessarily been peer reviewed.