Chinese gamers are at it again. The newest Gears of War game was pulled from being sold in China, and so a Gears of War 5 review bombing is underway, artificially pulling down the game’s rating as many Chinese fans of the series let their anger be known to the developers.
Gears of War 5 was originally supposed to be sold in China on Steam, however last week an announcement came down that the game was being pulled from being sold in China due to an “unforeseen issue”, which has not been elaborated on.
Exactly what might have caused an issue with the Steam version of the game so bad that it couldn’t be sold in China remains to be seen, and we’ve got no idea of what it might be. However, developer The Coalition is apparently investigating the issue.
It’s possible that the issue may be political, in the form of Gears of War 5 having a large number of different flags related to LGBT people that players can use as their decals. Such things are frowned upon in China and so the government may have demanded they be removed.
Regardless, the Gears of War 5 review bombing due to the game not being released in China is underway, and will most likely drag down the game’s rating for a good while until Steam can parse which ones are fake and which ones are actually negative.
Review-bombings are normally done to express displeasure at a game or its developers for one reason or another. Steam has previously announced that they would be taking steps to counter review bombings, so right now might be a good time to see what progress they’ve made.
If you don’t live in China, you can otherwise ignore the Gears of War 5 review bombing and start playing it today on the Xbox One and PC.
