According to Kotaku, Valve severed its relationship with game developer Insel Games, after the publisher used multiple Steam accounts to post positive reviews of the recently released game, Wild Buster: Heroes of Titan. Valve has since removed the game from Steam, as well as the rest of the developer’s catalog.
The move came following a picture posted on Reddit of an email from Insel Games CEO Patrick Streppel. The email implied that there would be negative consequences, such as job forfeiture, for employees who did not positively review, as well as purchase the game, for which they would be reimbursed.
Steam posted in response to the picture, indicating that following an investigation into the allegations, it was uncovered that Insel had attempted to manipulate reviews and sales of the game; a tactic that is in clear violation of Steam’s review policy.
This is not the first such instance of Valve cutting ties with a developer. In 2017, Valve removed over two hundred titles from developer Silicon Echo Studios, when it was discovered that the company’s titles were utilizing asset flipped mechanics for new games. Likewise, in 2016, Valve banned the studio Digital Homicide after the game developer submitted a lawsuit seeking private information about users who left bad reviews on the company’s titles. The suit has since been dismissed.
Since its inception, Valve has worked to improve its ratings and review system to ensure more legitimate and less deceptive review scores, such as its scoring calculation change that occurred in September 2016. The Steam service is a semi-collaborative platform between developers and gamers, with a help-me-help-you type of relationship, such as Steam Early Access, which allows gamers to play new games while still in development. Gamers want to see games succeed, but not through means of deception.
Manipulating sales numbers and review scores is a solid way to get on the bad side of the very vocal gaming community, and is a clearly desperate tactic. Gamers are entitled to their opinions of the games they play, just as developers are entitled to the opinions of the games that they create. By addressing sudden spikes in negative user reviews (known as “Review-Bombing”) and appropriately investigating developers who violate their policy, Valve continues to do a good job of maintaining a balance of keeping both parties in check.
