It hasn't been long since Nintendo allowed Switch users to leave reviews in the eShop, and before everyone can even use it, it's already being pulled.
From what can be gathered so far, the feature was just a "trial."
Switch User Reviews Gone Before You Know It
Heading over to any Switch game's page where user reviews are enabled, such as Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, users will see that the blue button under the Reviews section is now gone. Instead, what they'll run into there is an explanation from Nintendo.
"Customer reviews have been taken offline as we evaluate this feature and its functionality. We currently have no estimated date on when an update will be provided. We appreciate the positive response and thank the reviewers who provided such thoughtful commentary on the games," the company says.
Naturally, users were baffled at the sudden change, with a lot of them assuming that Nintendo removed it for good.
"They likely just took it offline again because it wasn't finished yet and got released by accident, or because it was not working as intended and whatever is broken could result in customer confusion ... or even broken or fraudulent review data ... They spent time developing it. They clearly see value in it," a Reddit user, who says they're a software developer, writes.
It should be mentioned that a Nintendo rep provided Polygon with an official statement regarding the matter. While it more or less basically said the same thing as what Nintendo posted on the game pages, it clears up one thing: it was a trial.
The Review System Was Awesome, Though
Nintendo's take on the review system was a good step forward for Switch games. For starters, there were a lot of options to make a review as detailed as possible aside from the standard one-to-five-star rating, including labeling it with tags such as "Fun to play" and "Great value."
As if that wasn't going for the extra mile already, there was also the option that let users identify themselves as just a "Casual player," "Core gamer," "Nintendo fan," and even "Parent." That way, other likeminded individuals could get a better picture of what a game has in store.
It doesn't end there either. Users could then leave a write-up of their thoughts about the game so that they could provide an explanation in their own words, and as a crème de la crème, they could also indicate that what they wrote may have a spoiler or two through the "Does this review contain any spoilers?" question.
As some Reddit users in the thread linked above pointed out, Nintendo may have disabled the user reviews feature because some might have left inappropriate reviews. There's also the speculation that other Switch users could have left poor ratings on some of Nintendo's AAA titles.
However, until Nintendo provides a more concrete and detailed explanation of why the eShop feature was taken down, anyone's guess is as good as anyone else's at this point.
