The program, which Pimax confirmed with Road to VR\u00a0to indeed be genuine before being discontinued following the leak, featured everything from $5 Steam gift cards to hundreds of dollars in discounts off future purchases of Pimax hardware. The top reward tier even offered a $1,000 subsidized trip to the company\u2019s Shanghai headquarters.<\/p>\n
The only thing selected participants needed to do\u00a0was type up a verifiably positive post for Reddit \u201cor any other forums you visit,\u201d submit it to Pimax for approval, post it online, and rack up the points. Below is an excerpt from the posting guidelines given to Mavgaming1 via Discord.<\/p>\n
Suggested topics included\u00a0\u201cYour First VR Experience with Pimax\u201d, \u201cTips for Getting the Best Experience with Pimax\u201d or anything else relevant to bringing a positive light to the company\u2019s XR headsets.<\/p>\n The company was also prepared to give out redeemable points for making positive comments on Pimax-sanctioned social media posts. In effect, it resembled a coordinated astroturfing effort\u2014an attempt to simulate grassroots support for the\u00a0company\u2019s PC VR headsets, including its upcoming modular flagship\u00a0Crystal Super<\/a>, and new slim and light entrants Dream Air and Dream Air SE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pimax\u2019s response in a nutshell: The company claims it wasn\u2019t an officially sanctioned program, but rather one regrettably devised by employees acting independently. The company quickly moved to shut it down. Additionally, Pimax says it has never paid for positive coverage in the past.<\/p>\n In all, the company admits to\u00a0contacting nine Discord users about the program, three of which received the full pitch of content guidelines and reward structure.<\/p>\n Pimax\u2019s Head of Communications Jaap Grolleman,\u00a0who has largely become the face of the company over the last three years, tell Road to VR those messages \u201cdidn\u2019t go through our internal application process for any external communication, but was sent privately over Discord messages by colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have never demanded any journalist, developer or user to use any other voice but their own to describe our products, and never demanded a review or comment to be positive. That is in all 10 years of Pimax,\u201d Grolleman tells Road to VR. \u201cThat is, with the exception of three messages being sent out around the 22nd of May.\u201d<\/p>\n Grolleman characterizes the program as \u201ca big judgment error in several areas from some individuals, who did nonetheless represent Pimax.\u201d What\u2019s more, he affirms \u201cno reviews were published under this program.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s more than just a marketing misstep though. While only three users received the pitch before the program was shut down, the initiative potentially could have violated marketing laws in multiple countries.<\/p>\n According to Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. \u00a7\u202f45), \u201cunfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce are hereby declared unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n This language underpins the\u00a0FTC\u2019s endorsement guidelines<\/a>, which dictates that companies must not solicit or compensate for positive reviews without clear, conspicuous disclosure of that material relationship. In other words, paying users for good coverage\u2014especially when disclosure is omitted or downplayed\u2014isn\u2019t just unethical, it\u2019s potentially a violation of federal law.<\/p>\n Similar standards are enforced across the globe, including by the UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)<\/a>\u00a0and the European Union\u2019s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive<\/a>, both of which prohibit misleading or covert marketing tactics designed to simulate organic consumer opinion\u2014aka astroturfing.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pimax-posting-guidelines.jpg\")
<\/a>Image courtesy Mavgaming1<\/p>\n