Indie Dev Threatens Gabe Newell, Punished Swiftly

So, yesterday, you may recall I wrote about stricter punishments against people who threaten violence was being considered by the UK government.   That’s swell and all, but unfortunately, it doesn’t really apply over here in the US, and we’re certainly no strangers to threatening remarks made online.  That said, that doesn’t mean we’re defenseless when threats are made, and one Indie developer quickly learned the other day that if you’re going to threaten someone online, don’t threaten Gabe Newell.

It all started innocently enough, of sorts. Mike Maulbeck, the Indie developer in question, was on twitter yesterday complaining—and not without merit—that his Indie game Paranautical Activity (being showcased on the front page due to being Halloween-themed) was marked as “early access” when it was just recently finished.  Yes, that’s an irritation, for sure, but I’m not sure it warranted what came next.

Some of the tweets on his tirade read as follows:

ARE YOU f***ing KIDDING ME STEAM? WE JUST RELEASED OUT OF EARLY ACCESS AND THIS IS OUR FRONT PAGE BANNER?

First they force me to delay the game because I can't release on weekends, now this. Steam is the most incompetent piece of f***ing crap.

f***ing steam is just f***ing taking money out of my pocket. misinforming people that my game is in f***ing early access.

You know what, fine.  It’s not exactly charming to tweet these things, but we all get angry and sometimes twitter is a great place to vent that anger.  But here’s where things get awkward: Mike Maulbeck’s twitter account is named Mike Murderbeck (get it?  Because Maul-beck?), so he’s already raised a red flag.   But then, he tweeted the following:

“I am going to kill gabe newell

He is going to die”

Granted, it didn’t take him long to realize his mistake, but by the time he pulled the tweet the damage had been done and the screencaps have been made, because there are no take-backsies on the internet.  Valve responded nearly immediately with the swift removal of the game from Steam, a representative saying "We have removed the game's sales page and ceased relations with the developer after he threatened to kill one of our employees.”

In an email to Polygon, Maulbeck said the following:

"I have since obviously replied to them saying that I didn't mean what I said and pleaded that they consider the monopoly they have on the PC market before totally writing us off.  but let's be real. If they took the game off the store, they're fuckin sure about their decision. There's probably nothing to be done."

Today, Maulbeck, who was the co-founder of the studio who made the game, has since quit and sold his half of the studio to the other co-founder so Valve won't hold any grudges, and, hopefully, re-post the game in their marketplace.  This article is already pretty quote-heavy, so if you want to read his full statement go ahead and read here. 

It's sad that a Indie developer has to quit his job because of a single bad tweet, but with recent events as they are, I still think it's appropriate.  A line has to be drawn somewhere, and if you cross it, there should be consequences. 

Still, I wish him luck in the future.