So…that was fast. Let’s backtrack a little. As you might have seen, Nintendo finally made it possible to leave “official” user reviews for games on the Switch and the 3DS. Many welcomed this, and thought that the Big N was again trying to make up for lost time. Yet, now, 5 days after launch, user reviews have been taken down. Why?
Well, if you go to a game on the official Nintendo site, you’ll see a post like this:
“Customer reviews have been taken offline as we evaluate this feature and its functionality. We currently have no estimated date on when an update will be provided. We appreciate the positive response and thank the reviewers who provided such thoughtful commentary on the games.”
Adding to the intrigue, Polygon got a response from Nintendo stating that the user reviews were only a “trial”, and that it will no be improved upon. Here’s the full statement:
“Nintendo.com recently offered a trial customer review feature to let users share feedback about Nintendo Switch games on our website. The response has been positive, and Nintendo appreciates the time and effort that reviewers put into their thoughtful commentary on the games. Nintendo has removed this feature as we evaluate the future of the ratings functionality on Nintendo.com. We have no estimate on when an update will be provided on the status of this initiative, but we appreciate the enthusiasm shown for the trial.”
This is a very curious turn of events. It makes you wonder if they discovered something that could be exploited and stopped the process so that it could be taken care of. Or, maybe it was a trial, and the next one will happen soon, it’s hard to say.
