Harmonix Employees Caught Red-Handed Posting Glowing Amazon Reviews For Rock Band 4
Listen up, Rock Band 4 by Harmonix is friggin' awesome! No, I haven't played it, but that's the impression I and others might have gotten by glossing over user reviews posted to Amazon. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, except in this case, Harmonix employees involved in the development and promotion of Rock Band 4 were among those posting glowing reviews.
The apparent conflict of interest was first brought to light on Reddit and followed up on by Desctructoid, the latter of which got in touch with Harmonix about the situation. Harmonix confirmed that employees had been leaving positive reviews, though said it believes nothing malicious or deceiving was intended.
"Harmonix has clarified its internal policy about posting reviews of our own products on retail sites, and we've asked that existing reviews be edited to identify Harmonix employees or be removed entirely," Harmonix said. "While we believe the reviews posted by a few employees were sincere and without ill intentions, as a studio we don’t believe these are appropriate actions. We appreciate the feedback from the community, and take our relationship with our fans seriously."
Granted, Harmonix employees are human beings like the rest of us and have feelings and opinions of their own, but c'mon, this is pretty indefensible. It's simply misleading for a developer or another person with a vested interest in Rock Band 4 to leave positive reviews without a disclaimer. In one of the reviews, the Harmonix employee claimed to be a "new fan."
Rock Band 4 released to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 earlier this month. The reception has been mostly positive, which makes the situation even more of a head scratcher.
The apparent conflict of interest was first brought to light on Reddit and followed up on by Desctructoid, the latter of which got in touch with Harmonix about the situation. Harmonix confirmed that employees had been leaving positive reviews, though said it believes nothing malicious or deceiving was intended.
"Harmonix has clarified its internal policy about posting reviews of our own products on retail sites, and we've asked that existing reviews be edited to identify Harmonix employees or be removed entirely," Harmonix said. "While we believe the reviews posted by a few employees were sincere and without ill intentions, as a studio we don’t believe these are appropriate actions. We appreciate the feedback from the community, and take our relationship with our fans seriously."
Granted, Harmonix employees are human beings like the rest of us and have feelings and opinions of their own, but c'mon, this is pretty indefensible. It's simply misleading for a developer or another person with a vested interest in Rock Band 4 to leave positive reviews without a disclaimer. In one of the reviews, the Harmonix employee claimed to be a "new fan."
Rock Band 4 released to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 earlier this month. The reception has been mostly positive, which makes the situation even more of a head scratcher.
