{"id":49546,"date":"2025-06-30T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=49546"},"modified":"2025-06-30T14:12:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T05:12:32","slug":"japanese-indie-hit-bokura-planet-struggles-with-unusually-high-ratio-of-negative-reviews-from-chinese-players-according-to-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-indie-hit-bokura-planet-struggles-with-unusually-high-ratio-of-negative-reviews-from-chinese-players-according-to-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese indie hit BOKURA: planet struggles with unusually high ratio of negative reviews from Chinese players, according to data \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kodansha Creators\u2019 Lab released the indie co-op puzzle game BOKURA: planet <\/strong>this April. The game is currently available for 20% off as part of\u00a0 Steam Summer Sale, priced at $4.39 USD.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOKURA: planet is an official successor to the 2023 hit BOKURA. While the previous game in the series has a \u201cVery Positive\u201d rating on Steam with a 91% positive review rate, BOKURA: planet <\/strong>launched to a more modest 75%. Through post-launch updates, the game\u2019s reception has been improving, but it\u2019s still rated \u201cMostly Positive\u201d \u2013  lower than its processor.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to BOKURA: planet\u2019s solo developer Tokoronyori and publishing producer Yuki Katayama, a key factor behind the lower score appears to negative reviews coming specifically from Chinese-speaking Steam users. We asked Tokoronyori and Kayatama about this unique situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014How has the response to BOKURA: planet differed between regions?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katayama:<\/strong> 
Responses from players from the US, Europe and Japan have been overall accepting, with many users approaching it with the attitude, \u201cOhh, so this is the direction you\u2019ve decided to take things.\u201d On the other hand, reactions have been a lot more divided in the Simplified and Traditional Chinese-speaking regions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tokoronyori:<\/strong> 
The highest number of reviews come from English-speaking players \u2013 and among them, 87% are positive. Reviews in Simplified Chinese come in second, but only 47% of them are positive. Among Japanese-speaking players, reviews are 85% positive. In Korea, it\u2019s at 72%, and in Traditional Chinese it\u2019s 63%. There are reviews in other languages as well, but that\u2019s the overall breakdown.  
 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014So in Chinese-speaking regions, especially Simplified Chinese, BOKURA: planet has a much lower rating. Is this 47% positive review rate from before or after the post-launch updates?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katayama:<\/strong> 
Before the updates, positive reviews were at around 40%, so reception has been recovering somewhat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Have you noticed any common points of criticism among the reviews from Chinese players?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tokoronyori:<\/strong> 
A lot of people said they couldn\u2019t accept how the story unfolded, especially compared to the first game. The previous game didn\u2019t have a bad ending, so I think that\u2019s why this kind of reaction was more prominent this time. I\u2019ve seen many players say things like, \u201cI worked so hard to clear the game, but the characters don\u2019t even get rewarded.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014I guess that shows how emotionally invested Chinese players were.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katayama:<\/strong> 
That might be true. I think they might be empathizing with the game at a deeper level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014I see, so it\u2019s not like they\u2019re trying to tank BOKURA: planet\u2019s reviews, rather, the negative feedback comes from players who care for the game.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katayama:<\/strong> 
Yes, I think it all comes from a place of love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, BOKURA: planet hasn\u2019t received many reviews from Japanese players, despite how much its selling domestically. Tokoronyori says he\u2019d like to see more people share their impressions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tokoronyori:<\/strong> 
Looking at reviews by country, Japanese players submit reviews at a much lower rate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014That\u2019s surprising.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tokoronyori:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOKURA: planet\u2019s sales are the strongest in Japan. <\/strong>And yet, in terms of review count, it\u2019s only about half of what we\u2019ve gotten in English, even though the game has sold several times more copies in Japan. It\u2019s strange, but also kind of understandable, I guess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014This may be a cheeky question, but are you asking players to post more positive reviews?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tokoronyori:<\/strong> 
Not at all! (laughs) Actually, I wouldn\u2019t say Japanese reviews are especially positive. If you compare the positive review rate between BOKURA and BOKURA: planet among Japanese-speaking users, it hasn\u2019t changed so much at all. If anything, Japanese players rated the original BOKURA slightly lower than other countries. I just really want to hear people\u2019s honest thoughts\u2014whether it\u2019s positive or negative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOKURA: planet is out now on PC (Steam<\/a>). The game will be $4.39 USD (20% off) during Steam Summer Sale.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We talk to solo dev Tokoronyori and their publisher Kodansha Creators’ Lab about BOKURA: planet’s unique review situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-49546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie-games","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapanese indie hit BOKURA: planet struggles with unusually high ratio of negative reviews from Chinese players, according to data \u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We talk to solo dev Tokoronyori and their publisher Kodansha Creators' Lab about BOKURA: planet's unique review situation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-indie-hit-bokura-planet-struggles-with-unusually-high-ratio-of-negative-reviews-from-chinese-players-according-to-data\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese indie hit BOKURA: planet struggles with unusually high ratio of negative reviews from Chinese players, according to data \u00a0 - 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