Valve has removed the indie shooter Art of Stealth from Steam, claiming that developer Matan Cohen tried to rig the system by posting fake reviews of the game, casting it in a positive light. These sorts of shenanigans are a pretty big deal, and fly in the face of not just Steam's review policy, but also basic decency, and ethical behavior.

The developer posted about these 'rumors' of fake accounts one day before the game was taken down, writing:

    There are rumors in this forum about fake accounts which are used for writing positive reviews.

    Some members really think that we, the developers of Art of Stealth, are generating fake accounts to post positive reviews about our own game.

    So, I want to stop this ridiculous rumor immediately and explain what is going on the store page.

    A few friends of mine who study computer science with me in the university have decided to join Steam in order to support this game by posting positive reviews.

    My friends love Art of Stealth and they told me that some members from this forum post annoying comments on their reviews, only because they are positive.

    I want to ask from everyone - please don't do it anymore. My friends don't deserve to find a dozen comments on their review page every day.

Apparently Valve decided otherwise. Here's the company's full statement on the matter:

    We (Valve) have identified unacceptable behavior involving multiple Steam accounts controlled by the developer of this game, Matan Cohen. The developer appears to have created multiple Steam accounts to post a positive review for their own game. This is a clear violation of our review policy and something we take very seriously.

    For these reasons, we are ending our business relationship with Matan Cohen and removing this game from sale. If you have previously purchased this game, it will remain accessible in your Steam library.

Jim Sterling, who is doing god's work by pointing out the worst of the worst on Steam and elsewhere, had a few harsh words for Art of Stealth which you can watch him play, and bash, below:
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I really wish I had played this game before it was removed from Steam. It looks...unique.

In any case, the developer responded to Sterling's critique by filing a DMCA request with YouTube, claiming that Sterling violated copyright laws, and generally freaked out rather than just ignoring the criticism (or better yet, taking something useful from it.) Of course this attitude backfired, earning Art of Stealth even more scorn and ill will from an already antagonistic community.

Matan Cohen obviously didn't learn the lessons of developer Digital Homicide, who waged a months-long campaign against Jim Sterling for similar reasons, devoting time and energy toward waging a war against a critic rather than making better games. Finally, Digital Homicide attempted to have a court reveal the true identities of 100 Steam users who left bad reviews on the developer's games. Unsurprisingly, Valve quickly took down the developer's games from Steam, in what can only be described as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The developer says it now plans to sue Valve as well, because some people never learn.

In any case, Art of Stealth is now gone from Steam as well. Judging by Sterling's video, this is no great loss to the gaming community. I wonder if developers will continue to die on their own swords this way, or learn that making a bad game doesn't mean you deserve to be shielded from criticism.

Nobody is entitled to a free pass. Take your lumps and move on.

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