Following Steam and Xbox's lead, PlayStation seems to be inviting players to leave user reviews on the PS Store

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Not available directly from the PS5 console, though

Aerith prays against a watery backdrop in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
(Image credit: Square Enix)

PlayStation is seemingly introducing written user reviews on its own digital storefront. 

The PS Store on PS5 has allowed players to rate games from one star to five stars for a while, but unlike competing digital storefronts on Steam and Xbox, PlayStation owners haven't been able to type out their full opinions on games for others to see. Although, that might all change soon.

A Reddit post titled "When did PlayStation start allowing written reviews?" spotted that the platform holder was inviting a select few players to leave written reviews on certain games. Commenters said that PlayStation had emailed them to review Helldivers 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Fortnite, and more on the official website. (Good spot, Eurogamer.)

When did PlayStation start allowing written reviews? Seems to only be allowed for few games on their store pages for now. from r/playstation

For now, only certain games are reviewable, you need to own the game digitally, and there's no way to leave a review directly from the console, despite Xbox allowing the same option. That might not necessarily be a bad thing since Steam's user reviews can sometimes be flooded with jokes, memes, and off-topic discussion - maybe so many requirements will help filter out any unserious respondents. 

The more muted approach to user reviews might also prevent situations like the Helldivers 2 debacle from occurring again, since review bombing campaigns on Steam are now used to push companies to make changes to a game. Limiting who can leave reviews and where they can submit them probably takes some power away from the exercise as a whole, though the feature might see some tweaks as it's being quietly rolled out.

Now might not be a good time to open the doors to user reviews since Helldivers 2 players are in an uproar over nerfs made to the flamethrower. 

Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.