Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Valve Bans Developer From Steam After It Sues Customers Over Bad Reviews (arstechnica.com)

Posted by msmash on from the justice-league dept.

From an ArsTechnica report: A game developer has been banned from Steam after users claimed that it had attempted to sue 100 users of the platform for $18 million -- for the crime of leaving bad reviews. Digital Homicide, which has released dozens of small games mostly available for a couple of quid each, had its titles removed from Valve's popular digital distribution platform on Friday night. Its boss, James Romine, was granted a subpoena by a court in Arizona apparently allowing him to demand the release of "identification and associated data" of anonymous Steam users. The lawsuit listed in turn the misdemeanours of dozens of John/Jane Does, which include counts of "harassment," "stalking," and "cyber-bullying." In a brief e-mail sent to Vice's Motherboard at the end of last week, Valve's marketing veep Doug Lombardi confirmed that "Valve has stopped doing business with Digital Homicide for being hostile to Steam customers."

15 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. First Post - Great move Valve! by FoolishBluntman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I like those guys!

    1. Re:First Post - Great move Valve! by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm indifferent to them. I wish I didn't have to use them to play games, but, for bloat/spy/drmware they do a decent job.

      They're clearly in the right here. Kudos to them for blocking a client and any revenue they would have got selling that client's games. Long term this is a smart move and besides being "right" will also help them retain customer loyalty.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  2. My favorite from TFA... by HBI · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Romine's GoFundMe account, set up to fund the suit, has made just $425 of his $75,000 goal, even though he claims he "received a pile of feces in the mail" and that he had had messages saying things like "Your wife is a whore," and "I hope you die in a fiery car crash.""

    Romine is a guy who does not get teh net.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    1. Re:My favorite from TFA... by Dins · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I can't believe ANYONE associated with this dev could think this was a good idea. It's possible you could have a user or two make serious threats, but 100? Sorry, didn't happen.

      And if you make games so bad as to inspire 100 people to send you death threats, maybe you should re-evaluate your chosen career...

    2. Re:My favorite from TFA... by HBI · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think this guy is a bit impermeable to advice. He needs a stint of inpatient therapy and anger management classes.

      I'd like to congratulate (but not shake the hand) of the guy who sent him the shit.

      --
      HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    3. Re:My favorite from TFA... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      This same company is suing Jim Sterling (a video game reviewer) for giving them bad reviews. It's been very public and with what they've done with Sterling, this seems exactly in their character. And what's really bad is this company got Jim Sterlings eye because they mostly just sell what's called "asset flips", where they buy some art assets off of the Unity asset store, and then just sell the demo for them on Steam for $10 a pop. They're scum.

    4. Re:My favorite from TFA... by lgw · · Score: 4, Informative

      So all the outrage over "ethics in gaming journalism " [lolllz] doesn't apply here because it's not about a woman?

      Actually, this is also about "ethics in gaming journalism": Jim Sterling has some. He's been sued, banned, and dis-invited by a variety of publishers because he actually gives bad reviews. He's willing to lose pre-release reviewer copies from a publisher if that's what it takes to call a shit game shit.

      Jim Sterling and Total Biscuit are the only video game reviewers I trust these days - I assume everyone else self-censors bad review to keep a "good relationship" with publishers, as the preponderance of evidence is that they do. Jim Sterling likes to review bad games, and TB has moved to only giving air time to good games, so they're complementary.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  3. Steam is the best of these networks by far by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And credit where credit is due, I haven't had the Steam client do something amazingly stupid in ages.

    On the other hand, what happens if these paragons of virtue somehow lose control of the company?

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  4. More like by Purity+Of+Essence · · Score: 4, Funny

    More like Digital Suicide! Hur-hur-hur — I'll see myself out.

    --
    +0 Meh
  5. Re:WTF is a quid? by naris · · Score: 5, Informative

    quid is definitely not teenie language, the term has been around for a **very** long time, several hundred years. It refers to english currency, 1 pound sterling to be exact.

  6. Re:WTF is a quid? by belthize · · Score: 5, Funny

    Agreed, it is fairly hard to understand foreign languages like Great Britainniash..

    To clarify a couple of quid is around 500 Albanian Leks

  7. Digital Homicide is known for this. by Qbertino · · Score: 3, Informative

    Digital Homicide is known for this type of shit. I have lost count of the times Jim Sterling has brought them up whenever they were screwing around again.

    It would be nice to see Valve/Steam finally getting up to some quality management and start kicking out the assholes and doucebags. Digital Homicide is a very good start.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  8. Re: WTF is a quid? by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ah, I know that place. All my computer RAM is made there.

  9. Re:WTF is a quid? by Boronx · · Score: 3, Funny

    Or about 250 Trillian Zimbabwean dollars.

    --
    Play Command HQ online
  10. Re:WTF is a quid? by Anomalyst · · Score: 3, Funny

    So we should expect a UK remake of the classic John Candy flick as "Uncle Quid"?

    --
    There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.