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[Update] Developer’s Threats Against Gabe Newell Get Game Pulled From Steam
Developer Mike Maulbeck is the creator of Paranautical Activity. For a short time, his game was available on Steam, first as an Early Access title and then as a fully released game. Yesterday, Mualbeck threatened to kill Valve founder Gabe Newell.
As you might suspect, Valve didn’t take kindly to the series of insulting and threatening statements made by Maulbeck, culminating in a promise to harm Newell. “I am going to kill gabe newell [sic],” Maulbeck wrote in a since deleted message on Twitter. “He is going to die.” (Polygon shares an image of Maulbeck’s threat.)
Maulbeck’s anger was touched off by problems releasing his game on Steam. Following successfully moving the game from Early Access to launch, the game’s page still carried the Early Access banner. You can see the entire chain (without the since-deleted threat) here. Be warned that there is some coarse language.
Valve confirmed to Polygon that the threat triggered the game’s removal from Steam storefront and relations with the developer have ended. According to Maulbeck, his game is still available on the Humble Store and other platforms.
Update: Maulbeck has announced his resignation from Code Avarice, selling his stake in the company to one of his partners. In his statement, he says he won't front another project, choosing instead to "be as an anonymous 1 of 1000 at some *** corporation, not the most public figure of a single digit sized team." You can read his entire statement here.
[Source: Mike Maulbeck on Twitter via Polygon]
Our Take
Once again, this should go without saying. Don’t threaten harm against other people. It’s not only unprofessional, but it is not how civil people interact with one another.
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