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The “impossibly fast FPS roguelike” Paranautical Activity just released out of early access on Steam, and was getting some attention in a Halloween-themed section of the storefront with a 15% discount! However Mike Maulbeck, the game’s creator, took particular issue with the fact that Paranautical Activity was still listed as Early Access as opposed to the completed product. People tend to shy away from early access games, so it’s understandable that Maulbeck would be upset.
In response to the grievance, he took to Twitter to express himself. Now before I continue, I’ll be blunt: this was not a good idea.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME STEAM? WE JUST RELEASED OUT OF EARLY ACCESS AND THIS IS OUR FRONT PAGE BANNER? pic.twitter.com/Zfhj4VA8UX
— Mike Murderbeck (@SpooderW) October 20, 2014
Again, something to be ticked off about. But mistakes do happen, and this probably could have easily been fixed with a few emails or tweets their way. But instead of respond to the situation like a rational person, things just kind of went downhill from there.
First they force me to delay the game because I can’t release on weekends, now this. Steam is the most incompetent piece of fucking shit. — Mike Murderbeck (@SpooderW) October 20, 2014
fucking steam is just fucking taking money out of my pocket. misinforming people that my game is in fucking early access.
— Mike Murderbeck (@SpooderW) October 20, 2014
Maulbeck then let the anger really get the better of him and sent out this gem:
Sigh.
The tweet has since been removed, but the die has been cast, and the damage has been done. What has been said cannot be unsaid, even on the Internet, a fabled land of creatures who believe in zero consequences for your actions, even when those actions entail sending death threats to strangers for perceived grievances.
Valve didn’t take too kindly to this and removed the game from Steam all together. Some have called it punishment, some others call it deserved.
Maulbeck retaliated by tweeting out more anger.
Welp. PA no longer on steam. I’m done making videogames now. It sucked while it lasted.
— Mike Murderbeck (@SpooderW) October 20, 2014
I’m jumping back and forth between killing myself and getting a job at radio shack.
— Mike Murderbeck (@SpooderW) October 20, 2014
It makes me happy that there are people out there who, on this life shattering career ending day, want nothing but to call me a fucker.
— Mike Murderbeck (@SpooderW) October 20, 2014
People telling me it’s fucking stupid to say I wanna kill gabe. Can I set up a “no shit” autoresponse on twitter?
— Mike Murderbeck (@SpooderW) October 20, 2014
This isn’t the first time that Maulbeck has acted out and you would think that something would have been learned from the last incident.
Speaking with Polygon, Maulbeck stated that he didn’t mean what he had said, but acknowledged that it was unacceptable and driven by “the heat of the frustration I was feeling at the time.” Maulbeck also stated that he attempted to rectify the situation with Valve, but believes that those bridges have burned. Also in a statement to Polygon, Valve confirmed that the game was removed from Steam and Maulbeck’s Steam developer account has been terminated in response to the threat.
It’s sad that something that Maulbeck has definitely worked hard on for a number of years will now not be available on the largest digital platform for PC due to a few angry tweets. The lesson here? Don’t threaten people on the internet, especially people who are directly responsible for your livelihood. Tone it down a notch, maybe choose the delete key over clicking the send button, because it’s literally that easy. Consider that your actions, even on the Internet, do have consequences.
Hope Radio Shack is hiring.
[Source]
