Do you know what “astroturfing” is? Astroturfing is when employees of a company or members of an organization promote their products or agendas while trying to mask their affiliations. When I was taking on random projects online as a freelance writer, one of the most common gigs available was to write product reviews on Amazon. Companies will outsource reviews all of the time for new products or generic rip-offs. You’ve probably seen a fair bit of astroturfing on the Google Play Store or iTunes App Store. A new game or app from a small team of 4 or 5 developers will hit the store and behold, you’ll find 5 glowing reviews within hours, praising the game as the best thing since Angry Birds .
This happens all of the time. If you took marketing classes in college, you likely already know about astroturfing as a legitimate albeit ethically questionable way to promote a new service or product. After all, these people giving your game 1 and 2-star reviews don’t know what they’re talking about. They haven’t spent enough time to really attune to the learning curve or get to know your characters. Why shouldn’t you register an account and point out exactly why your video game is five-star material? It’ll let the consumers know exactly how to appreciate your masterpiece.
That’s what the team at Harmonix thought, anyway. A curious reddit user discovered a couple of glowing reviews for Rock Band 4 left by Harmonix employees. They were posting anonymously as “Amazon Customers” and role-playing as common gamers and new fans of the Rock Band series. Their real names were found out by following the reviews to user wish-lists that revealed their real, registered names. After finding 7 employee reviews, reddit user Camera9 concluded that this no longer looked like a few rogue employees giving their a game a bump; this seemed like blatant, poorly-concealed astroturfing at its sleeziest.
I don’t think anyone would have batted an eyelash if the reviews were made by users who clearly indicated that they were Harmonix employees trying to point out what makes the game great. They could have even turned it into a hilarious publicity stunt – funny Amazon reviews go viral all of the time! Instead they attempted to hoodwink potential buyers. Obviously the response from gamers was quick and sharp. Harmonix issued this statement to Destructoid on the matter:
“Harmonix has clarified its internal policy about posting reviews of our own products on retail sites, and we’ve asked that existing reviews be edited to identify Harmonix employees or be removed entirely. While we believe the reviews posted by a few employees were sincere and without ill intentions, as a studio we don’t believe these are appropriate actions. We appreciate the feedback from the community, and take our relationship with our fans seriously.”
The statement came really quickly in response to the story breaking. Obviously Harmonix wanted to perform as much damage control as it could as quickly as possible. A few of the reviews were indeed edited, and a few were removed, unsalvageable as a result of the efforts on the part of the reviewers to sound like enthusiastic rhythm-game noobs. While it’s clear that Harmonix and MadCatz have a lot to lose if this game doesn’t sell well, I can’t help but feel ashamed of and embarrassed for them. If they truly believed in their game they’d let the fans speak for themselves instead of deceptively shoving flattering words into our mouths on their behalf.
What do you think of Harmonix posting reviews for its own product? Is our review-driven culture to blame by placing such a premium on others’ opinions? I’ve heard horror stories from mobile game developers that say a few poor reviews, even if they’re totally bogus, can keep a game from reaching thousands of potential buyers. Was Harmonix executing a pragmatic marketing strategy, or has it crossed the line in a way that you find unacceptable?