Valve Won’t Remove Controversial Games from Steam Dylan Duarte June 6, 2018 News “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that digital distributors do nothing.” – Someone, I’m sure. It’s 2018 and it’s become surprisingly difficult for decency to prevail, due to the sheer amount of indecent stuff out there. Case in point: a recent school shooter simulation “game” popped up on Valve’s Steam platform. After an entirely justified public outcry, Valve removed the game, but made sure to specify that their actions weren’t due to the game’s content, but rather because the creator of the game was a “troll” who had been previously banned from selling games on the service. Valve joins Twitter and YouTube (and many others, I’m sure) as a platform that’s become host to very questionable content without being sure of how to deal with said content. Valve found a simple solution, as articulated by employee Erik Johnson: do nothing. Valve shouldn’t be the ones deciding this. If you’re a player, we shouldn’t be choosing for you what content you can or can’t buy. If you’re a developer, we shouldn’t be choosing what content you’re allowed to create. Those choices should be yours to make. Our role should be to provide systems and tools to support your efforts to make these choices for yourself, and to help you do it in a way that makes you feel comfortable. …It also means that the games we allow onto the Store will not be a reflection of Valve’s values, beyond a simple belief that you all have the right to create & consume the content you choose. In a certain light, he’s not wrong. The idea of voting with your wallet may be cliche, but it’s cliche because it’s true. Nobody should buy games like these, letting them die lonely deaths at the bottom of the charts. Unfortunately, that’s the not the world we live in, and there are no shortage of people who purposely seek out the most vile, repulsive things to support. Valve pulled this particular game before release, but people will buy future games like it, and Valve will profit off of each sale. So no, maybe Valve shouldn’t be the arbiter of what’s right and wrong. I’m honestly not sure where I stand on that particular argument. What I am sure of, however, is Valve will continue to profit off of games that are not a reflection of their values. Share This With The World!
