School Shooting Game ‘Active Shooter’ Removed From Steam, Valve Denounces Creator
Last week we covered some disturbing news on the Steam platform; a developer was about to release a school shooting simulator called ‘Active Shooter’ that let players play as either an elite S.W.A.T. member or the titular role within a school. Even without the recent controversy regarding gun control or the deplorable, tragic shooting incidents that have occurred throughout the country, the game is in poor taste. Thankfully, Valve has put its foot down in a big way, and removed the game from Steam.
In a recent statement to Motherboard, Valve has confirmed that it has removed both the game and its developer and publisher from Steam. “We have removed the developer Revived Games and publisher ACID from Steam,” Valve stated. “This developer and publisher is, in fact, a person calling himself Ata Berdiyev, who had previously been removed last fall when he was operating as ‘[bc]Interactive’ and ‘Elusive Team.’”
Active Shooter was previously scheduled to launch on June 6, although recently its publisher stated that it planned on removing the ability to play as the shooter before launch due to “high amount of critics and hate.” That aside, Valve did not provide any reasoning why Active Shooter was removed from Steam, though the company told Kotaku that Berdiyev is a “troll [with] a history of customer abuse, publishing copyrighted material, and user review manipulation.”
We are not going to do business with people who act like this towards our customers or Valve”
Naturally this hasn’t been the first issue Valve has had with Berdiyev. The individual, acting under a differently named developer and publisher, previously released a game on Steam called “Piccled Ricc,” inspired by a Rick & Morty episode. Valve removed the game from Steam after accusing Berdiyev of “asset flipping,” the process in which developers combine pre-made assets with very little self-work and turn them into games.
While school shooting simulator Active Shooter is no longer coming to the Steam, it could potentially release to other platforms. Hopefully other companies will follow suit and do the right thing.
So, thoughts on Active Shooter being removed from Steam? What other controversial titles have you personally seen pop up on Steam? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!
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Ryan "Cinna" Carrier3026 Posts
Ryan is the Lead Editor for Don't Feed the Gamers. When he isn't writing, Ryan is likely considering yet another playthrough of Final Fantasy IX. He's also the DFTG cinnamon bun.
