Well, the companies won, given it's an official entry in the dictionary: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/review-bomb
> to manipulate an online rating system with a semiorganized campaign of unfavorable user reviews, often as a general statement of disapproval for a creator, a publisher, or other business, rather than a genuine opinion about a specific product or experience
And yeah, that's not a bad definition. This situation seem to meet that definition. It's all relative, but I don't think needing to make a free account completely ruins the experience for 99% of modern online gamers.
>Epic's choice to avoid reviews, despite the resources they have at hand, is pretty squarely anti-consumer and part of why they struggle to gain consumer trust with their store.
I think it's simply a "lose more" scenario. The sentiment changed on Epic very quickly when they had a game people wanted on Steam, so it's a pile on reason to justify their reason to love/hate. It could be spun one way or another based on mood.