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We've seen some amazing console features being implemented by Team Xbox over the past few months since Asha Sharma took over, and at least in our opinion, we feel like the user review system should get some attention as well.
GTA 6, in particular, is highlighting a flaw with the review system on Xbox right now - the game has over 2,000 reviews already on the US version of the store, and it's not even out for another five months.
Here's a look at some examples:
The way this works is that anyone who pre-orders a game on the Xbox Store is allowed to review it, even before the release date.
Looking around the store at games like 007 First Light, LEGO Batman and Forza Horizon 6, it's clear that at least some of the pre-release reviews survived for those titles, with FH6 in particular having lots of "reviews" that are just talking about how hyped they are for the game (or how much they don't care for it!).
It's still probably not a massive issue in the case of a game like GTA 6, especially considering how the review system sorts by "Most Helpful" and any pre-release comments will get pushed to the back once it's actually launched, but it's undoubtedly skewing the results at least a little bit.
Ultimately, Xbox's review system has never been particularly great — especially compared to something like Steam — and we'd love to see Asha Sharma's team work their magic on it in the future. Ditching the pre-order reviews, highlighting more in-depth reviews and clamping down on spam would all be very welcome improvements in the future.