Controversial shooter 'Hatred' taken down from Steam Greenlight

[compl3x]

Controversial mass shooting game Hatred has been taken down from Steam Greenlight after its listing on the crowd-voting section of the service garnered widespread attention this morning. "Based on what we've seen on Greenlight, we would not publish Hatred on Steam. As such we'll be taking it down," Valve VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi told Eurogamer in the wake of the game's removal this afternoon.

 

Hatred, from unknown Polish developer Destructive Creations, was first announced back in October. Its trailer seemed to revel in the massacre of civilians with a kind of gruesome glee. The video drew comparisons to ultra-violent game franchises like Postal and Manhunt for its apparently amoral focus on gunning down innocent bystanders in violent detail. "This is the time for vengeance, and no life is worth saving, and I will put in the grave as many as I can," the protagonist says in the trailer. "It's time for me to kill, and it's time for me to die. My genocide crusade begins here."

 

The developers at Destructive responded with a statement to the press almost immediately following the Greenlight takedown. "Even though games like Manhunt or Postal are still available on Steam, we of course fully respect Valve?s decision, as they have the right to do so," the developers said. "In the same time we want to assure you that this won?t in any way impact the game's development, game?s vision, or gameplay features we?re aiming for."

 

 

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/12/controversial-shooter-hatred-taken-down-from-steam-greenlight/

 

 

Cue rants about censorship.

[MightyJordan]

I think the neo-Nazi connections some of the Destructive Creations team have is reason enough to keep them off Steam; can't imagine Valve would want to deal with the publicity that'd attract.

[123456789A]

If it's a good game they should just publish it themselves.

[+Red King Subscriber²]

what a bunch of ###### - screw you Valve

[fintechfooty]

no, good for Steam. These guys can find their own funding and should not even be given a platform to advertise on ( I don't know how Steam Greenlight works but I doubt it would want to associate itself with this game esp in current conditions. However do make the game, they should release it considering we're in a 'free' market, but Steam obvs wasn't going to associate with this kinda ######.

[MightyJordan]

If it's a good game they should just publish it themselves.

Exactly, just like how Minecraft started. People liked it and it took off without any help from a publisher or distribution platform.

[chrisj1968]

Sorry everyone but this Political Correctness train is long past it's date of expiration. There's always someone getting their panties in a wad. /rant

[Guest]

I play as a terrorist in Counter Strike, kill hostages and plant bombs, yet Valve are happy to keep taking my money.

 

This is what happens when you allow a single organisation to effectively control the majority of the market. They can ban games for whatever reason they want to come up with.

[spenser.d]

I play as a terrorist in Counter Strike, kill hostages and plant bombs, yet Valve are happy to keep taking my money.

 

This is what happens when you allow a single organisation to effectively control the majority of the market. They can ban games for whatever reason they want to come up with.

 

Not all shooters are the same. If you can't see the difference, you missed the point.

 

As for Valve, yes, that's how business works. Fortunately for you, you can usually find the game elsewhere if you really want to play it, so it shouldn't actually affect you.

[Guest]

As for Valve, yes, that's how business works. Fortunately for you, you can usually find the game elsewhere if you really want to play it, so it shouldn't actually affect you.

 

I understand the situation, but it sucks that publishing games has become so dependent on an X company giving you the green light to recover your investments... unless you're a big company already.

[MorganX]

I play as a terrorist in Counter Strike, kill hostages and plant bombs, yet Valve are happy to keep taking my money.

 

This is what happens when you allow a single organisation to effectively control the majority of the market. They can ban games for whatever reason they want to come up with.

 

I think the difference is the developers are openly in support of hate groups in "real life." That makes a huge difference. This knowledge, new to me, puts the trailer in a whole new light.

 

You'd think Poles would have had enough hatred and senseless slaughter given their history. It's a shame these guys are filled with so much hate, they're pretty talented. The engine looks great. I personally could not play this game, not my thing anyway, knowing the beliefs of its creators. Some bells can't be unrung.

 

Valve did the right thing, Epic did the right thing, and they can self-publish if they like.

 

In the end, what can you do? If they hide their true nature and make a good game without revealing their "real life" beliefs and nature, then you're buying a game an funneling money to basically hate groups. What can you do? But if you do know, something has to change, if you're sane.

[MorganX]

I understand the situation, but it sucks that publishing games has become so dependent on an X company giving you the green light to recover your investments... unless you're a big company already.

 

Publishing games is not dependent on X company. It's just expensive. Valve clearly has a code of conduct which is fair play in a fair market. They can go independent, Ninja Theory is giving it a go. Lorne Lanning's Abe's New & Tasty came out AAA and has done ok, though he is having trouble getting it on all platforms.

 

If you're going to go in any business, you have to realize your personal conduct will have an effect for the majority of people.

[Ryoken]

I don't see the problem. Why should Valve/Steam publish anything that comes to them? It's a free(ish?) world, if they don't want to be associated with it, then let them dump it.

If the game is any good it'll be published by someone else, or self-published.

 

Also, the idea that Steam "Controls" the market is silly. There are LOTS of games not on Steam at all, even more still that are available on other platforms, or on their own.

I suppose Steam not having MS Solitaire and Minesweeper is death for those too.. Or all those games on Origin.. 

[+Red King Subscriber²]

I don't see the problem. Why should Valve/Steam publish anything that comes to them? It's a free(ish?) world, if they don't want to be associated with it, then let them dump it.

If the game is any good it'll be published by someone else, or self-published.

 

Also, the idea that Steam "Controls" the market is silly. There are LOTS of games not on Steam at all, even more still that are available on other platforms, or on their own.

I suppose Steam not having MS Solitaire and Minesweeper is death for those too.. Or all those games on Origin..

Steam controls a massive portion of PC game market.

If it doesn't like something, it can silence it.

With this case it is pushing its own agenda instead of letter the gamers - its customers! - decide.

[Andre S. Veteran]

We discussed this earlier and I gave my viewpoint there, so I'll just say that I'm very happy about this decision.

[Guest]

I don't see the problem. Why should Valve/Steam publish anything that comes to them? It's a free(ish?) world, if they don't want to be associated with it, then let them dump it.

If the game is any good it'll be published by someone else, or self-published.

 

Also, the idea that Steam "Controls" the market is silly. There are LOTS of games not on Steam at all, even more still that are available on other platforms, or on their own.

I suppose Steam not having MS Solitaire and Minesweeper is death for those too.. Or all those games on Origin.. 

 

Look at it this way. They gave a generic reason why they don't want the game on Steam. Now if Riot tries to release League of Legends, they could give a very similar answer and they would have their butts equally covered like in this case, because as you say, if they don't want to be associated with it, they won't. While we would all know what the real reason behind them not accepting it would be.

 

A good analogy would be if Microsoft now blocks all of Google's products from working on their own OS, and saying publicly that they wouldn't want to be associated with Google's products. And as you said, Google could develop their own OS for their own products.

 

EDIT: Not to mention, there are countless violent video games currently present on Steam. Hell, Left 4 Dead is one of the most violent, you can use a chainsaw to butcher through thousands and thousands of bodies and nobody gives a flip about that.

[spenser.d]

Steam controls a massive portion of PC game market.

If it doesn't like something, it can silence it.

With this case it is pushing its own agenda instead of letter the gamers - its customers! - decide.

Yes, they can do that because it's their business and they can run it how they like. If you don't like it you can get games elsewhere, and if you don't want to do that, is really just too bad. That's the decision you get to make, whether or not to use their product, not how to run their business.

[MorganX]

We discussed this earlier and I gave my viewpoint there, so I'll just say that I'm very happy about this decision.

 

"Yeah, quite clearly this game is perverse and playing it and encouraging the developer is morally wrong. It's highly graphical mass murder of innocent people for its own sake and the morbid fascination with causing fear, suffering and death. People saying that it's "just a video game" or "just for fun" miss the point; the problem isn't that it's real - since of course it isn't - the problem is that the whole point of the game is to revel in its purely sadistic nature."

 

While I agree with you, I don't think that's solely why it was removed. It is the above sentiment combined with the revelations of the developers real-world affiliation and support of "real-life" hate groups.

 

I don't see how Valve could have not pulled it. I wouldn't buy this game or any game made by developers openly supporting hatred and hate groups and I probably would not support Steam if they did.

 

If enough people actually want this game, and want to support the developers, they'll do fine publishing themselves.

[Ryoken]

Steam controls a massive portion of PC game market.

If it doesn't like something, it can silence it.

With this case it is pushing its own agenda instead of letter the gamers - its customers! - decide.

 

By your logic, Stores like Walmart should sell everything, Movie studios be forced to distribute all movies, anyone who runs any business should lose their free will once they become successful.

 

Steam is part of Valve. It's Valve's servers, and name on the line, and they should not feel obligated to support Anything they don't want too. Valve may have a large part of the PC market, but it's far from being the only name. Steam games only account for about half of the games I have installed, the rest have no distribution platform associated with them. 

 

If Valve doesn't want to support this game, or any other, then it should be up to them. Same way you shouldn't be forcing a store to see products they don't want. Their not putting it on Steam in NO way prevents people from installing it. This isn't say, MS, Preventing something from being installed. It's simply Valve refusing to publish or sell it. They can make it and sell it another way, if it's good people will get it, if it's not, then people won't.. 

 

And no, it wouldn't bother me if Valve decided not to publish other games.. GTA, Eve Online, Solitaire, whatever. It's THEIR platform. It's up to them what's on it. When they are the ONLY choice, then we can talk about being too powerful, but given that they are far from the only option for getting games on Windows/Mac/etc then it's a moot point.

[NightmarE D]

Stop trying to defend a game that is clearly made by racist idiots. Look into the background of most of the developers. Most of them don't even try to hide their hate. That CEO almost flaunts his. Not to mention the people that get the more extreme kills in the trailer is more than obvious.

 

Not sorry for saying this:

 

If you support that game, you're supporting their hatred. Not just theirs. All pathetic hatred like this. Don't try to find some pathetic excuse when they make it clear what their real intentions are with the game and then try to play the victims like people won't notice. They're pathetic to think people can't see through that BS. This isn't just a team that did this to draw attention to show off "skills". You honestly think this looks good for a game using Unreal Engine 4? That does NOT look like an Unreal Engine 4 game, doesn't even look like Unreal Engine 3. Thee's no graphical skill in that at all so there's nothing to show off. This is just a pathetic group of people filled with hate using a game to try and spread their BS to others and anyone who defends them is admitting they are no different than them.

 

Look at their backgrounds and the crap they are into and some of you will actually sit there and say "they have the right..."? History didn't teach any of you a damn thing did it? Just keep spreading hate like this. Nothing bad will ever come from it, right?

 

Even us talking about it like this makes me sick since it just gets them the attention they are clearly wanting. Oh and people who bring up Postal and Manhunt being no different crack me up. Proves they know nothing about either franchise lol

[compl3x]

Steam controls a massive portion of PC game market.

If it doesn't like something, it can silence it.

With this case it is pushing its own agenda instead of letter the gamers - its customers! - decide.

 

 

Steam is under no obligation to allow any game onto its system. Steam isn't silencing anything, I think the devs are probably loving the fact that it isn't on Steam because it will give it an air of being forbidden or restricted.

 

Steam's agenda is to be a profitable business, giving a voice to a group with questionable views and a game intended to shock people for its own sake isn't in their interest. Plus, they know no one is going to abandon their platform because one game, which seems to be made to exploit controversy, isn't available.

 

I swear, I hope there isn't some anti-Steam backlash from reddit or some place over this.

 

If you want to buy this game, you'll still be able to, Steam just won't be the one selling it to you.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Steam is under no obligation to allow any game onto its system. Steam isn't silencing anything, I think the devs are probably loving the fact that it isn't on Steam because it will give it an air of being forbidden or restricted.

That was part of the reason I ended up getting a copy of Manhunt, there was something taboo about it which fuelled my curiosity.

What I quickly came to learn though was that these sorts of games don't do anything for me. There needs to be more substance to a game than just killing everyone for the sake of killing.

[compl3x]

That was part of the reason I ended up getting a copy of Manhunt, there was something taboo about it which fuelled my curiosity.

What I quickly came to learn though was that these sorts of games don't do anything for me. There needs to be more substance to a game than just killing everyone for the sake of killing.

 

 

I think I got Manhunt 2 for a similar reason. I like stealth stuff so I thought it would be cool, but I kind of lost interest and I don't think I ever bothered to complete it.

[+Red King Subscriber²]

Yes, they can do that because it's their business and they can run it how they like. If you don't like it you can get games elsewhere, and if you don't want to do that, is really just too bad. That's the decision you get to make, whether or not to use their product, not how to run their business.

Funny you cry foul when ISPs do the same thing.

[game_over]

Stop trying to defend a game that is clearly made by racist idiots. Look into the background of most of the developers. Most of them don't even try to hide their hate. That CEO almost flaunts his. Not to mention the people that get the more extreme kills in the trailer is more than obvious.

 

Not sorry for saying this:

 

If you support that game, you're supporting their hatred. Not just theirs. All pathetic hatred like this. Don't try to find some pathetic excuse when they make it clear what their real intentions are with the game and then try to play the victims like people won't notice. They're pathetic to think people can't see through that BS. This isn't just a team that did this to draw attention to show off "skills". You honestly think this looks good for a game using Unreal Engine 4? That does NOT look like an Unreal Engine 4 game, doesn't even look like Unreal Engine 3. Thee's no graphical skill in that at all so there's nothing to show off. This is just a pathetic group of people filled with hate using a game to try and spread their BS to others and anyone who defends them is admitting they are no different than them.

 

Look at their backgrounds and the crap they are into and some of you will actually sit there and say "they have the right..."? History didn't teach any of you a damn thing did it? Just keep spreading hate like this. Nothing bad will ever come from it, right?

 

Even us talking about it like this makes me sick since it just gets them the attention they are clearly wanting. Oh and people who bring up Postal and Manhunt being no different crack me up. Proves they know nothing about either franchise lol

 

Cool story bro, but not everyone cares about that... i've seen the game it looks fun and I want to play it, I don't care about any hidden agenda or who their CEO is or what he believes in... and graphics are not the only criteria i look for when choosing a game..

 

I must admit this game has a shock factor, it's incomparable to games like Counter Strike or GTAV, maybe even Manhunt... the taste in the violence is completely different.