As a developer I have noticed how strongly good and bad reviews effect a games rating and sales on the app store especially in the early stages of games release. I don't think consumers realize just how much power they have to control the success or failure of games and production companies. I have also noticed that the big companies post a lot of fake reviews when they launch games which I think is really dishonest. If the first review a game receives in a particular country is a bad one then the chances of getting good sales in that country diminishes. We had one game launch that sold like crazy in the US, Australia and Canada with great reviews across the board, but in the UK the first review was negative. After that we only sold 3 copies in the UK that month. Also good reviews can launch a game into the What's Hot category and a 5 star review especially in some of the smaller countries can jump a game up the charts by 10 or 20 spots. The big companies employ people to post fake reviews which makes the reviews a bit of a false economy, being from a small company we don't do this and we wouldn't do this, but we do ask as many friends as we can to try out the apps, but even so it makes it really hard for new companies to stay alive with the amount of negativity and fake reviews on the app store. So what I am asking here is that when you write a review for an app consider the amount of time and effort that has gone into it's production, if something is wrong with the game or it doesn't work then post a review or contact the developer to let them know, this really helps. But if the game or app just isn't your thing or you hoped it was something else, maybe just move onto the next game. And make sure to post positive reviews, so few people do, developers read each and every review and they really keep us going in the late hours of the night.
I see people rate games 1 star just because of one (major or minor) problem. If the game is good besides that problem/bug, the game should be rated 4 stars. That is the reason why I do not depend on reviews/ratings on the AppStore if I want to buy games.
Am reasonably sure that most people here on TA do not really go by app store reviews. Am guessing most other users do. In Indian store very few apps get reviews and ratings from users. I often wonder how do consumers who do not frequent such review sites actually buy apps or games. I imagine they keep visiting new and noteworthy and buy games now and then. If they do not visit gaming sites, they most certainly would not search for a particular game to download. So if unfair reviews actually hinder a game being showcased in new and noteworthy, am sure that will impact sales a lot. It's a cruel world. I do my bit to give reviews and I always give 5-star reviews for games I like.
There's too many people giving out 1 star reviews because they cant get the app to work... This has nothing to do with the game but theyll do it anyway. Recently they just added a support button for this but it's not gonna stop a majority of people From giving out 1 star reviews because the app crashEs on their device. Also few reviewers give enough info about the fame besides that it's awesome or whatever... I try to give a detailed review cuz I'd know I'd appreciate the same. Often I have to keep going thorough multible Pages to find a descent review.
My reviews are pretty much all or nothing 5 stars or 1 star but I think that's natural I'm only going to write a review if I think an app is really good or if it annoyed me in some way. I've far more apps than reviews in other words.
I actually dont even look at the appstore reviews when I buy a game. I depend on TA for every game I buy. But really, I hate when someones gives a game a bad review because it cannot run on their old, outdated and probably jailbroken device.
I don't think I've ever left a 1 star rating. If I run into a problem I report it and leave a 3 star rating explaining 'crashes on start up running on iPod 4g iOS ....' or whatever the situation. I suspect the user reviews and first impressions mean a lot to these devs (especially indies) so I generally don't harass their ratings or encourage others to feel dissatisfied. Far too many people leave reviews based on ridiculous criteria to even take it seriously, too. For the most part I look through the AppStore reviews just to get a general idea of what the app is like, not to read people raging.
Lots of threads on the forum have said the very same thing as these posts. Search button is your friend.
