How do some game developers have success on the backs of 1-2 star games?

[TacoHoleStory]

Looking through the most viewed games of all time, there are a few with 1-2 star reviews. It's mind blowing.

How did they get millions of views on their threads with such low ratings?

 

[Hagatagar]

Well, there is always the possibility that a certain amount of those reviews are from salty players or kink-shamers, who gave 1-star reviews just because of a disliked tag *cough* NTR *cough*.
Don't look like that, you know it's true, you can always find 1-star reviews whose only conclusion is: 'I hate NTR!' or 'The dev is a dick!'
Of course, this also goes the other way, 5-star ratings because.... well... just because... maybe that one girl was cute?

Then some reviews may be from early (bad) versions and has never been updated.
On top of that, most reviews are either 5-star or 1-star because many people don't consider gradations in their ratings.



If a game is bad, people will complain, especially when there is also a controversy, this causes traffic and this keeps the thread "hot", which keeps on drawing views.
Oh, and of course updates always reignite these discussions.

Besides, it's not uncommon for bad stuff (headlines, games, movies) to attract curious people who want to know if it's really that bad.

And if a certain amount of views is reached, this alone is already enough of a motivation for people to take a look.
This is one of the reasons why some pointless and uninteresting videos on Youtube have so many clicks.

 

[mickydoo]

I don't look at stars, games like Milfy City, Summertime Saga, Being a Dick are all 4.5/5 star games yet I have never looked at them as they don't interest me.

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

In the case of Luna in the Tavern, F95 hates their online-DRM scheme (myself included, and if my favorite games had that, I wouldn't have played or supported them), but apparently a fair number of people are willing to pay up. Presumably the same ones who buy lootboxes and play pay2win MMOs.

 

[Buddawg]

First thing you should learn with reviews written by anyone, is to disregard most of them.

Only pay attention to well written and well thought out reviews.
The rest is pure garbage.
If you like how that well written one portrays the game, then play the game. if not, then dont. The stars usually are only slightly indicative of if the game is good, and more about if its popular.

 

[redknight00]

Same way FIFA or Fortnite make money, you don't need new, good, or creative games, you just need to milk it for all its worth.

 

[UpAfterTen]

Some reviewers just want to watch the world burn. In my writing career I'll occasionally get a one star review. Sometimes it's legit criticism and I roll with it. The ones that were the most infuriating, however, were people whose whole reason for existing was to read books in a genre they clearly hated and leave one star reviews telling the world.

 

[rocketMonkey]

perhaps the game deal with niche taboo subjects that turns a majority of players off?
but then the devs can still achieve success if the game is so niche that it targets a very specific group of people

for example, games that deal with furry, bdsm etcc.

 

[God3333]

If you think about it the more hated a game is, the more people who like it need to support it to keep it alive, I'm sure that most controversial games have single people making up most of the funding for the game.

 

[sexypeanut]

The rating is completely inefficient and you can safely disregard it - mainly so because lots of games have very few ratings/reviews.
I find '# of likes' to be a better metric (or, the best one of all, how much the creator is getting from sites like Patreon). Of course, new games will have few likes... but, if they are good, they'll grow with time. Games with a lot of likes certainly cater to many people (or to a vocal niche) and are, most of the time, successful ones.

 

[woody554]

creating an ntr scandal always gets the threads traffic. none of it good but the numbers go up.

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

In the case of Superpowered:

The game is old, it's like one of the OG crowdfunded smut games.
Most reviews complain about the grind, which I imagine most players circumvent using the mods, so it's a moot point.

 

[K.T.L.]

Most people have learned, from the so-called professional critics, that ratings usually mean nothing. When I'm looking for a new movie, I look for the ones panned by the critics. Theses days, the ones they like are nearly always little more than mediocre propaganda.

When it comes to games, lots of people tend to downvote what they don't personally like. A bit unfair on the developer but you can't do anything about it.