Buzz
(Homeland) - It's not always about quality or financial losses; sometimes, a game gets removed from Steam for reasons nobody could anticipate.
Steam is renowned as one of the leading gaming platforms in the world at present. However, not every game lasts forever on Steam. Some games get removed due to basic reasons like financial losses, discontinued development, or closure. But at the same time, there have been quite a few games that unexpectedly disappeared from Steam due to reasons that no gamer could have imagined. Here's the second part of this series.
Utilizing fake accounts to give positive reviews for games
When a newly released game on Steam receives mixed reviews, mostly positive, it's generally seen as a good sign for any game. However, things take a different turn if those reviews are created by the publisher itself rather than the players' opinions.
Specifically, games from the Acram Digital studio were pulled from Steam in 2018 after Valve discovered that an employee of the publisher had posted numerous positive reviews about the project using various Steam accounts. A similar case occurred with Wild Buster when the publisher, Insel Games, attempted to encourage its employees to post reviews. Sharing the same fate, Wild Buster was later removed by Valve from Steam and there's no promise of its return.
Developer threatens Steam itself
This could be considered one of the rarest cases, where the owner of Valve and Steam, Gabe Newell, was threatened by the very game developer.
Paranautical Activity was removed from Steam in 10/2014 after a member of the development team aggressively threatened Gaben. This individual later resigned, selling the distribution rights to another company. Thanks to this, Paranautical Activity later returned to Steam, albeit under a completely different name.
Developer feels disappointed with quality, reviews
Batman: Arkham Knight is perhaps the most famous game withdrawn from Steam for this reason. After its PC release via Steam, the game faced numerous criticisms, mainly due to performance issues, and was discontinued and removed from the shelves shortly after.
Another notable example is the case of Scott Cawthon - the creator of Five Nights at Freddy's World. Disappointed with the ratings and reviews received by his brainchild, Scott publicly apologized. He also firmly offered refunds to Steam users, regardless of when they purchased the game.
