Seed Sparkle Lab Issues Plea After Suspicious Flood Of Positive Reviews Hits Their New Life Sim

The recent launch of the anime-inspired life simulation Starsand Island has encountered a perplexing anomaly in its user feedback data. Seed Sparkle Lab, the Chinese developer behind the cozy title, reported a sudden surge of highly favorable reviews that appear to be manufactured rather than organic. This phenomenon occurred shortly after the game became available on Steam Early Access and Xbox Preview on February 11. While developers typically celebrate positive reception, the team identified specific patterns suggesting these accolades were part of a coordinated effort to disrupt their operations.

I find the specific methodology described by the studio to be an unusual financial commitment for a simple prank. According to VGC, legitimate Steam reviews necessitate a product purchase, compelling these actors to buy the software before posting their thoughts. Seed Sparkle Lab noted that many of the accounts responsible for the praise initiated refund requests immediately after the reviews went live. The suspicion of foul play deepened when the team analyzed the timing and substance of the comments.

A significant volume of review materialized simultaneously, written in a style that strongly resembled AI-generated text. Furthermore, the playtime associated with these positive ratings was suspiciously short, indicating the reviewers had not actually engaged with the game's mechanics in any meaningful depth.

"We have recently noticed a large number of overly positive ‘praise’ comments about our game appearing across various social platforms. At first, we believed this meant our game was being recognized and appreciated. However, we soon noticed something unusual on Steam: some comments were posted after very short playtime, were released at nearly the same time (appeared to be AI-generated). This made us realize that something might not be right. Is this some kind of overpraise as an attack? We have no concrete evidence, but it does feel as though someone may be doing this intentionally."

— Seed Sparkle Lab

The studio addressed the perpetrators directly, expressing bewilderment at the tactic. They emphasized that indie game development is already a challenging endeavor without the added noise of falsified data. The primary goal during this early access phase is to gather actionable feedback to improve the experience for genuine players. The developers clarified that they have no hostile intentions toward others and simply want to work without interference.

"What makes it even more puzzling is that this approach is not cheap, since leaving a review requires purchasing the game (we later discovered that some of these accounts refunded the game after posting their reviews). We would like to say this clearly: making a indie game is not easy. We simply want to focus on building a good product and giving the players who truly like our game a better experience. So, to whoever may be behind this, please stop. Please let us focus on making our game in peace."

— Seed Sparkle Lab

I see this situation as a distinct distraction for a team currently focused on finalizing content and finessing the end-game experience. The roadmap for the title involves a transition from its current state to a full release slated for this summer. While the current build is restricted to single-player gameplay, the full version will introduce a new multiplayer mode. Seed Sparkle Lab plans to bring the finished product to a wide array of platforms, including PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and the Nintendo Switch 2.