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Paranautical Activity pulled from Steam after dev threatens Gabe Newell

Zeitgeister said:
Deleted my account a while ago. This is just further evidence for me never to come back to it.

And we used to think that "reader letters" in a magazine or newspaper were "the worst". Ha!

also: guy is a dumbass. See also The West Wing. (S3 finale)
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It's a very nice place to "network" with devs (yes yes I know ha ha you're going to bring up the "death threat" in response), I've followed several dozen indies now (and a few more interesting AAA/big company ones like yosp) and it's a really great way to catch up on what's going on with their games and for devs to reach out to audiences. I've even gotten some early review copies (or late review copies) of games partially/largely due to twitter.

The thing about Twitter is that it is what you make of it. Your feed is only full of assholes if you follow a bunch of assholes or follow people who retweet assholes.

Reallink said:
Game's getting 100 times the press now than if it'd just released per usual as another steam idie in a sea of indies. Probably gonna sell a lot better now than it would have honestly.
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Since a lot of people seem to think the game more or less has received no sales due to this, I'll note the game has been on sale on steam and elsewhere in early access for quite some time and he explicitly noted getting a significantly larger amount of purchases after hitting Steam. While I'm sure this sucks for him and will signiifcantly impact sales it's not a 0 sales situation either.
 
LurkerPrime said:
Counterpoint: when they're both equally ridiculous and impossible, why on Earth would they be any different?
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Because a person isn't the same as an entity. If you kill Google...people lose their jobs and other ish...if you kill a person that person is dead. See the difference?
 
LurkerPrime said:
Counterpoint: when they're both equally ridiculous and impossible, why on Earth would they be any different?
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I don't think killing a human being is anywhere close to as impossible as killing a massive company such as Google, the whole definition of killing is completely different in the two scenarios anyway. I have no idea how you can still run with this analogy, playing devil's advocate for the heck of it is getting a bit silly now.
 
alstein said:
Guy got what he deserved, but it's chilling how Valve can screw someone over and out of the industry if they wish.

I hope Gabe never gets too political or too crazy.
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It's chilling that words and actions can have consequences?
 
Welcome to not using twitter as an output for your stream of consciousness. The Gaben does not abide.
 
Azure Dream said:
But can we please stop pretending that his tweet looks like an actual death threat?
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Can we stop pretending this is the issue, as well?
It doesn't matter if the "death threat" wasn't actually menacing and Gabe Newell didn't feel the urge to protect his life.
What matters is that you aren't supposed to say something like that about a business partner even as a joke.

I manage a boxing club. we are constantly looking for partners willing to sponsorize boxing events.
I can assure you that if I went on Twitter writing something like "Ducati top managers are a bunch of assholes and I'm going to kill them" we would instantly lose any chance to work with them for good.
And adding a "LOL, just kidding" at the bottom wouldn't make any difference.

Hell, chances are we could lose them even just if they somehow managed to know i'm writing it here as a hypothetical example.
 
Azure Dream said:
He absolutely needs to act like a professional, and control his emotions, and it looks like he was doing some pretty shady shit.

But can we please stop pretending that his tweet looks like an actual death threat? And I'm not belittling actual death threats, I'm saying there's a lot of intelligent people in this thread who can tell right off the bat this was not actually an expression of interest to murder someone, but for some reason are playing along with the idea that it is.

I'm not defending him for ANYTHING else.
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He posted an angry tirade, a death threat, and then a suicide threat.

I'd say nothing about his messages should be taken as a joke or anything other than an actual threat.
 
Azure Dream said:
But can we please stop pretending that his tweet looks like an actual death threat? I'm saying there's a lot of intelligent people in this thread who can tell right off the bat this was not actually an expression of interest to murder someone.
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Maybe I'm not intelligent, but that tweet looks like an actual death threat.
 
Reallink said:
Game's getting 100 times the press now than if it'd just released per usual as another steam idie in a sea of indies. Probably gonna sell a lot better now than it would have honestly.
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it may get a boost in initial sales but that'll fall off especially when you don't see it anywhere because its not being sold on any platform.
 
What a petulant person this guy comes off as. Any issues with a launch can be frustrating, but he's a grown man- he should act like one. There are consequences for acting out.
 
I think some people mistake the ability to say to your friends with a smile on your face "I'm going to kill you" when they tease you with literally ANYONE ELSE ON THE ENTIRE PLANET.

Gabe is not your close personal friend. He doesn't give a shit about your sarcasm.
 
bishoptl said:
Being a ******* resulted in a highly negative consequence. Who knew?
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Indeed. Hate generates hate and nothing good ever comes from it. I can understand how under pressure he could be, even upset because of the mistake mentioned when the game was released as Early Access but ranting on the social media, saying he's going to kill someone is simply not constructive, at all. Such a shame when people can't control themselves and then it's a never-ending hate train...
 
hohoXD123 said:
She definitely is.
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Some people just can't see past their own personal lives. Like they are ignorant that a world of billions exists out there and that they are just a tiny, tiny part of it.
 
Yeah the guy shouldn't have said what he said, but I'd be pissed off too if I had spent two years of my life making a game and then on the day of release Valve messed up the listing.
 
Nokterian said:
It isn't PR...it's a death threat plain and simple. Death threats are illegal and saying this through social media? Well like i said Valve did what needed to be done. Your do no threat your business partner for no reason what so ever, if your not talking towards them in a mature way well this is what happens and i can't blame them.
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The death threat is bad PR in itself. Intentional or not. Don't misunderstand me, I know what the tweet says and its stupid, IMO. Moronic beyond belief, but it is PR now as it now paints the developer in a bad light. Any stupid comment by anyone in any sort of light can TURN into good/bad PR. That's what I'm saying. I never said it was an official PR statement, please don't misuse my context.
 
jem0208 said:
It is quite concerning how much of a grip Steam has on the PC gaming market.
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It is most certainly a concern, but you know what? We as gamers and as storefront owners allowed this to happen. Steam effectively has no competition due to its network effect. It's to the point where the vast majority of gamers will straight up not buy a PC game unless it is through Steam.

Fare Godmace said:
The other dev:

"My fucking career is down the fucking tubes... I can not believe this for a moment"

https://twitter.com/Vallisca3x3x3/status/524340697512837121
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The dude's partner getting screwed over is arguably even worse. He just woke up to some complete bullshit.
 
Kerned said:
Well then I've got nothing! Also, good on WWE. No one should be talking about killing other people, it's not something to take lightly.
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I think they can still use it in the ambiguous sense (ie- Randy Orton is the "Legend Killer") but they can't specifically say that they are going to kill someone. Which leads to hilarious promos that talk around hurting someone without actually saying they are going to really hurt them.
 
t6zL06n.png
 
hohoXD123 said:
She definitely is.
@ZeroDoxy · 11 mins 11 minutes ago
@Hackt0rius @Araxen Literally everyone knows that Mike exaggerates. Taking away his livelihood was spiteful and unnecessary
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Umm, taking away his livelihood is what happens to people who act like idiots on social media.

Actions have consequences. Welcome to adult life.
 
Maybe if he didn't like Steam rules, he should not have tried to release his game on Steam. It's a PC game, go publish it on your own without their help. Obviously rules are set out prior to anything and he could easily read his contract he signed.

Sad part is this will probably bring in a lot of attention and possibly sales to his game wherever it gets released.
 
RazielCuts said:
Even without the death threat I think Valve would've been in the right to pull the game from Steam. You don't just have a public hissy fit on twitter like a petulant child about a service/ a company you effectively want to have a business relationship with and expect them to be like 'that's cool.'
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Agreed.

Dude was acting like a 6 year old. Why not try to work something out with Valve regarding the couple of hours he lost? Maybe they would've tried to help him out. Taking it to twitter and throwing a hissy fit is the worst way to deal with an issue like that.
 
I never understand why people vent their grievances on twitter instead of taking the issue up with the person in charge. It's not like McDonalds mistook his order and he's hashtag "lovingit" ironically while making a complaint. This is something regarding his livelihood, it's a business issue that directly involves him. So instead of contacting Valve, he makes a stupid threat on twitter? Is it that hard for indie devs to get in touch with Valve employees regarding their game that they have to bitch on twitter for attention?
 
I can definitely understand the frustration he must have felt.

That being said, going on twitter and acting really immature to the point where you direct death threats towards someone, is about the most idiotic thing someone can do. Pulling the game is the least of his worries.
 
Stupid asshole. It's unacceptable to threaten an individual with death. A business setting doesn't even enter into it.

Of course he also shit talked a direct business partner, with much greater market influence, in a public forum. Not wholly unexpected from the amateur sector, but always bad business. You don't even get a chance to learn from such an obvious mistake because chances are you'll never get the opportunity to make it again.

Pity about his partner, but he should land on his feet after some cooling and distance.
 
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