http://www.polygon.com/2014/10/20/7024585/gabe-newell-death-threat-paranautical-activity-steam-valve
Cached store page:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...red.com/app/250580/+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
Yes, I agree, not the smartest move and everyone deserves to learn by their mistakes.
I assume this is a young kid, do they deserve a second chance?
As they say, without distribution on Steam, they are done and although this highlights a bigger problem and he should not have bit the hand that feeds him, should Valve have the say so to make/break someones career?
YES, I AGREE HE DONE HIS OWN CAREER NO FAVOURS but the reality was he just blowing smoke, or was it a genuine death threat? VERY VERY VERY stupid, YES. Intentful, I doubt it. We were all young and stupid once and likely paid the price.
Looks like he overreacted.
Was an error, these things happen.
A simple email to Valve asking them to fix it would have been more productive although would they have extended his release window to give more time on the front page to compensate for the error?
OR
Maybe this is all some contemporary marketing stunt with them knowing for well the internet would eat it up
The developer of Paranautical Activity, described by its creators as a fast-paced, first-person shooter roguelike, had its game pulled from Valve's Steam service today after its creator posted a death threat to the company's co-founder, Gabe Newell.
Mike Maulbeck, creator of Paranautical Activity, says he released the final version of his PC game on Steam today. When it went live, the game's Steam page indicated that the game was still in Early Access, which Maulbeck believed would "greatly cripple sales and confuse customers."
"This being a project I spent years of my life on, I was very frustrated by this mistake [Valve] made, so I tweeted a series of tweets calling them incompetent that eventually ended in me saying 'I swear I'm gonna ****ing kill gabe' or something," Maulbeck said in an email to Polygon. "A statement I obviously didn't mean, but nonetheless was totally unacceptable and driven entirely by the heat of frustration I was feeling at the time."
Maulbeck let loose a series of vitriolic tweets, calling Valve "incompetent" and expressing anger at Steam's "awful ******* monopoly." Maulbeck then allegedly said in a since-deleted tweet, "I am going to kill gabe newell [sic]. He is going to die."
In response, Valve pulled Paranautical Activity from Steam, and according to Maulbeck, contacted him to say it was terminating its relationship with the developer and closing down his Steam admin account. The game no longer appears on the Steam website. In a statement to Polygon, Valve confirmed that the game was pulled as a result of Maulbeck's threat.
"Yes, we have removed the game's sales page and ceased relations with the developer after he threatened to kill one of our employees," said Valve's Doug Lombardi in an email.
Maulbeck says he has attempted to get Valve to reconsider its decision.
"I have since obviously replied to them saying that I didn't mean what I said and pleaded that they consider the monopoly they have on the PC market before totally writing us off," Maulbeck said in an email to Polygon, "but let's be real. If they took the game off the store, they're ****in sure about their decision. There's probably nothing to be done."
Maulbeck's studio Code Avarice has a history with getting Paranautical Activity on Steam. The developer was denied a publishing deal on Steam Greenlight last year as part of an agreement with Adult Swim.
Paranautical Activity is available through other digital distribution means, like Desura and the Humble Store, but Maulbeck lamented that the game sold 12 copies on non-Steam platforms today.
Cached store page:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...red.com/app/250580/+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
Yes, I agree, not the smartest move and everyone deserves to learn by their mistakes.
I assume this is a young kid, do they deserve a second chance?
As they say, without distribution on Steam, they are done and although this highlights a bigger problem and he should not have bit the hand that feeds him, should Valve have the say so to make/break someones career?
YES, I AGREE HE DONE HIS OWN CAREER NO FAVOURS but the reality was he just blowing smoke, or was it a genuine death threat? VERY VERY VERY stupid, YES. Intentful, I doubt it. We were all young and stupid once and likely paid the price.
Looks like he overreacted.
Was an error, these things happen.
A simple email to Valve asking them to fix it would have been more productive although would they have extended his release window to give more time on the front page to compensate for the error?
OR
Maybe this is all some contemporary marketing stunt with them knowing for well the internet would eat it up
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