GTA 6 publisher Take-Two expresses concern over review bombings

 Review bombing has become a common practice these days. The act of flooding a game with negative
reviews for a given reason, even those unrelated to gameplay, is no longer an unusual thing. But does it have any effect, especially on established franchises? According to GTA publisher Take-Two Interactive, “negative review campaigns” can have a significant impact, suggesting that the company might be concerned about the possibility of GTA 6 suffering this fate.

Take-Two’s latest annual shareholder filing with the SEC includes an interesting section on review bombing. As noted by Game File’s Stephen Totilo, it highlights the effects that bombing can have on a game and the companies behind it.

The filing states that getting and maintaining high ratings for Take-Two games on third-party platforms is important, as it helps players find the titles.

The filing goes on to explain that Take-Two games can be subject to negative review campaigns or smear campaigns, which may have little to do with the quality of a title. This drop in ratings could lead to a loss of players and revenue, additional advertising and marketing costs needed to negate the effects, and general reputational damage.

Take-Two is no stranger to its games being bombarded with criticism. In 2017, GTA V was targeted after its publisher issued a cease and desist order against widely used game modding tool OpenIV, an attempt to stop single-player and multiplayer mods for GTA V and Grand Theft Auto Online.

It's interesting that Take-Two has highlighted this issue ahead of the release of GTA 6 in the fall of 2025. While it's hard to imagine the game being anything other than a massive hit, there have been reports that the often controversial humor the franchise is famous for could be less prevalent this time around.

Rockstar will reportedly take a more politically correct stance in GTA 6 and not “hit” by mocking marginalized groups. That, combined with the inclusion of the first playable female lead character, a Latina woman, could have Take-Two worried. You might remember that the Saints Row reboot was accused of being too “self-conscious,” leading to a barrage of criticism.

A more recent example of successful criticism bombing, though not involving a Take-Two game, was against Helldivers 2. It occurred after publisher Sony announced that an upcoming update for the game would require all PC players to link to their PlayStation Network accounts. A few days later, the Japanese gaming giant reversed its decision.