Valve has removed a controversial game pitched as "school shooting simulation" and its developer from the Steam online store ahead of its release. The description of Active Shooter (now removed,) called it a "dynamic SWAT simulator in which dynamic roles are offered to players.
In the game, you could play as a shooter, a SWAT team member, or a civilian, and its trailer depicted a shooter massacring his way through school halls.
Valve has also removed any game published by Revived Games and publisher Acid.
The title of the 'school shooting game' had been criticized by parents of real-life school shooting victims, and an online petition opposing its launch had attracted over 180,000 signartures.
One of the users of Steam referred to the game as 'step too far' despite being a fan of 'offensive humor'.
Steam's owner, Valve, said it had dropped the game because its developer had a history of bad behaviour.
According to a Valve representative, the 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.
The rep called the developer a "troll" with "a history of customer abuse, publishing copyrighted material, and user review manipulation,” and his identity was revealed during Valve's investigation of Active Shooter.
“We are not going to do business with people who act like this towards our customers or Valve,” the rep said. As for Active Shooter's content, the rep promised that "the broader conversation about Steam's content policies is one that we'll be addressing soon."
