Paranautical Activity, the anticipated blocky arcade shooter was removed from Steam almost immediately after its launch when one of the lead developers, Mike Maulbeck posted the following tweet:
Valve's response was swift, and the game was quickly yanked from Steam's store and front page. Obviously, Valve were well within their rights to remove the game following this outburst - especially given the current climate that gaming finds itself in. But what caused it?
Mr. Maulbeck had expressed his displeasure yesterday when he found out that Steam had limitations on when a developer can publish their games:
Mr. Maulbeck had expressed his displeasure yesterday when he found out that Steam had limitations on when a developer can publish their games:
His ire was then further raised when, after finally getting the game published onto Steam, the front page banner labelled his game as being in Early Access when it was actually a full release:
He also expressed his dissatisfaction at Valve's communication, calling them "incompetent" - and wishing that Valve didn't have an "Awful [expletive] monopoly anymore."
Mike Maulbeck has since received a lot of negative attention, as you may expect. This incident highlights the importance of maintaining a professional façade on social media if you're working in the gaming industry. Not only has he managed to get his game removed from Steam, severely limiting its exposure and potential revenue, but he has now exposed himself, potentially, to a criminal charge.
As for his next career move, it seems that it won't be in the games industry:
Mike Maulbeck has since received a lot of negative attention, as you may expect. This incident highlights the importance of maintaining a professional façade on social media if you're working in the gaming industry. Not only has he managed to get his game removed from Steam, severely limiting its exposure and potential revenue, but he has now exposed himself, potentially, to a criminal charge.
As for his next career move, it seems that it won't be in the games industry:
While it seems apparent that Valve had made the initial error in marking the game as Early Access, what shouldn't get lost here is that this is another example of how stressful working as an indie developer can be. Obviously, the developer in question here has not handled the pressure well - perhaps this should be used as a lesson to others - if you're not great at dealing with frustration, have someone else who has a level of detachment handle your social media accounts - even if it's a friend or family member.
