Update: Reverb Communications VP of Public Relations, Tracie Snitker, has responded with a comment (that is the same as the one from Mobile Crunch, TechCrunch’s mobile division). I’ve posted it at the bottom of the article in full, along with a comment response.
This article from TechCrunch about cheating on the App Store with gamed reviews is not a surprise to me. Gamed reviews rampant? You better believe it! The App Store just makes the cheating so much easier.
According to the article, a tipster (“Developer Y”) dropped some documents into TechCrunch’s lap regarding the services that Reverb Communications, a PR firm, provides to their developer/publisher clients on the App Store. The documents reveal, among other things, that Reverb provides “interns on Developer Y products to post game reviews (written by Reverb staff members) ensuring the majority of the reviews will have the key messaging and talking points developed by the Reverb PR/marketing team“. The documents go on to detail key demographics targeted with the reviews, the time period over which these reviews would be released, and that these reviews would be “positive reviews – not over the top – but endorsing the game as a good product”.
TechCrunch has done a pretty good job of pulling out the data and showing it, and I’m inclined to believe that the documentation they have received is accurate. For example, one of the user names listed in the chart TechCrunch created, Troofbtld, I decided to research further. I discovered this name on another game, Toy Bot Diaries 3 by Iugo Mobile Entertainment. And who does Iugo use for PR? Reverb Communications. Of course, the review was 5 stars.
TechCrunch lists several developers under Reverb’s wings, including Pangea Software, which has a long history in the Mac game community (developer of such classic games as Enigmo, Nanosaur, and Bugdom II). Pangea Software released both Enigmo for the iPhone and an iPhone only game, Antimatter (both released last year).
I spoke with Brian Greenstone of Pangea regarding this. Brian insists that never once did he consent to any kind of gaming of his reviews. The documentation he received did not contain any of the wording as that posted in the TechCrunch documents. As Brian said, “All they did for us was write the press releases, arrange interviews with the media, send our demo copies to reviewers, and act as our agents with Apple to help negotiate some marketing deals with them.” According to Brian, Pangea Software has not been affiliated with Reverb “for a while now”.
Brian feels that writing bogus reviews would have been irrelevant anyway because of the tens of thousands of user reviews he has had. Of course, many of those reviews for Enigmo belong to the Mac release. And perhaps a few good reviews in the beginning for the iPhone version would make a difference.
And that is really the big question. Just how much of a difference does a few good reviews make in the beginning? Reverb would have to provide a whole hell of a lot more than just 5 to 10 to counter the hundreds or thousands, as some of these games have received. For example, Toy Bot Diaries 3, mentioned above, has received a total of 133 reviews so far since it’s December 08 release. Enigmo has received a whopping 2790 reviews. Would 5 to 10 five star reviews in the beginning make a difference?
What gets you into the App Store top 100, or top 10, is high sales. Overall, a few good reviews doesn’t make a difference. But in the beginning, it could make a very big difference. If you saw a game that had an average of two stars for a review, you probably wouldn’t be all that interested in picking the game up. But in the first 14 days, adding 5 to 10 five star ratings could pump that game up to an average of four stars…for nothing more than a few greenbacks (or maybe a lot of greenbacks..I don’t know). And that might make the difference in obtaining those valuable pennies from the majority of iPhone game purchasers who just browse and buy. At least in the beginning.
Because long-term sales are based on a good product. Ultimately, if people don’t like a game, they won’t recommend it to their friends. And no amount of five star reviews are going to change that.
TechCrunch infers that the wool is being pulled over the eyes of the consumer with these falsified reviews. But assuming that this documentation is real, I wonder whether the wool is being pulled as much over the eyes of the publisher who believes that long-term success can be gained this way.
I’ve asked Reverb Communications for a comment, but as of this posting have not received one yet. When I do, I will update this post to reflect it.
Update: Reverb Communications response:
Reverb would like to clarify a few items regarding the MobileCrunch story about our agency that ran this weekend. The article “Cheating the App Store” is unfortunately full of emotion, logical holes and for the most part untrue. Here are the facts:
1. The writer [Gagan Biyani if MobileCrunch] forgot that Reverb Communications is not just a public relations agency, but is also a sales and marketing agency. Reverb’s marketing department has interns that do social viral marketing.
2. Our interns do not post reviews on iTunes. Our employees don’t post fake reviews. It’s common for Reverb team members to purchase the games and write a review in iTunes using their personal accounts AFTER they have played the game. In many cases Reverb has provided technical feedback and gameplay guidance to the app developer, long before these games hit the App Store, so we know these games extremely well. We also like these games or we wouldn’t take them on as clients. The entire list of iTunes accounts in your story are from staff members who have played the games.
3. 1 person=1 iTunes account=1 credit card. We do not have hundreds of accounts to “trawl” through iTunes – it’s simply untrue. We have 10 staff members who choose to post on the games when and if they have played the game. We have to buy and play the game in order to have an opinion.
4. This same writer [Gagan Biyani if MobileCrunch] contacted several of our app store developers wanting negative comments from them regarding Reverb. They all gave positive feedback, but the writer left this aspect out of the story.
I would like to point a couple of things out based on the above response. A company may firmly believe in a product, but that doesn’t mean that the individual employees all do. I would still find it strange that all employees who purchased, played, and reviewed the game gave each game five stars in their review. Where are the three or four star reviews? Do those employees not feel that they can write those reviews? It does make one wonder.
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