Valve Greenlights then Redlights Hatred mass murder game

[HEXUS]

But the developers promise to continue and will release the game in Q2 2015.

Read more.

[shaithis]

What happened to age ratings?

[Chadders87]

And user choice?

They happily let people play Manhunt and GTA (inc clones)...

On the plus side for them, Steam are doing them a favour. Imagine all the press they will be getting for free. I hadn't heard of the game until this article and must say I do love a killing spree game. Will keep watching...

[3dcandy]

Almost as if they planned it...

[KeyboardDemon]

In answer to the question, "Do I think Steam was right to do this?"

Yes, absolutely.

However this is not going to hurt the publishers or stop those that want to play it from getting to play it. If anything it will most likely encourage more sales than discourage them. I think nothing makes a person want something more than offering it to them and then taking it away before they can get it.

[[DW]Cougho]

Was Steam right? They are business and can decide what they sell and what they do not.

This is not censorship, which is absolutely wrong, therefore I see no problem.

As for it's sale outside of Steam as long as the age ratings are observed there is no issue.

[Brian224]

...you see the protagonist open fire with a machine gun in what looks like a book store café.

Can anybody blame Valve for not wanting this right now bearing in mind events in Australia?

[crossy]

Can anybody blame Valve for not wanting this right now bearing in mind events in Australia?

Good point - I can just see the Daily Maul headlines now - along with the usual "videogames turned gentle bunny loving wimp into frothing-at-the-mouth, death-metal-loving psychopath" copy. Then again, (cynic mode on), couldn't Valve had had a quiet word and just "paused" it until the furore died down.

As noted in the article there's a lot of nasty videogames out there - heck Bulletstorm's pretty nasty, after all, giving points for "stylish" kills? That said, it's sometimes nice to be able to blow out the frustrations of the day by powering up the PC and getting ridiculously destructive. JC2 and SRIV are good for that (at least in my library - are there others?)

It's the only way I can explain the (unjustified?) popularity of all these kill-the-zombies type games. And no, I'm not speaking about the cartoony ones like PvZ.

The "Hatred" game I'm not sure about - probably will bide my time until more details emerge. Although maybe they could raise the dev costs via Indiegogo - after all that seems to have worked (so far) for Red Hot.

[DanceswithUnix]

Carmaggedon was banned nearly 20 years ago (god that makes me feel old) until they replaced the people with zombies and made the blood green. Nothing has really changed.

[Gh0sty]

In the current climate they have done the right thing, it would only inflame the naysayers that use the tired old excuse that video games promte violence.

As others have said as long as the age ratings are in place and observed there isnt a problem

[rootminus1]

This makes me a little sad.
Not that Valve felt the need to pull it from their distribution list, as people have already stated, Valve has every right to conduct it's business as it chooses, and people should not be censored from buying this game if they decide to (as long as it is an informed decision, and age ratings are appropriately applied)
What gets me is that the devs feel there is a need to make this. Iso shooters feel horrible to play, there's no new or interesting game mechanics visible from the trailer, and as for artistic merit, I think this lowers the standards of the games industry as a whole. I don't think this 'game' should be made, as it contributes nothing.
If people want a shooter to blast some faces with a bit of gore then there are plenty already on the market which at least make some attempt to justify themselves ethically or else provide engagement and fun by some other means than wanton pointless murder

[x2o]

I find it laughable that steam lets so much rubbish through green light and then takes the moral high ground on this game.

I really think Steam need to take a long hard look at themselves and the quality controle and fix it and maybe take some of the EA developers to task on released unfinished games instead of ignoring the community.

[shaithis]

I really think Steam need to take a long hard look at themselves and the quality controle and fix it and maybe take some of the EA developers to task on released unfinished games instead of ignoring the community.

Steam and EA have no reason to talk any more. All EA games are released on Origin, not Steam.

[directhex]

What happened to age ratings?

Good question.

Whilst Steam is able to sell games with no age rating on them, the convention in the US is for boxed games to get an ESRB rating. "M" means 17+, and is used for adult games, but there's "AO" above it meaning 18+. Sony, Microsoft & Nintendo won't allow AO games on their consoles, and most stores won't carry AO-rated PC games.

Hatred would be an easy AO if it submitted to the ESRB for classification, so it wouldn't be sold by many places, and it's not unusual for a store (like Steam) not to sell an AO-equivalent game.

[AnyOldName3]

I really think Steam need to take a long hard look at themselves and the quality controle and fix it and maybe take some of the EA developers to task on released unfinished games instead of ignoring the community.

Steam and EA have no reason to talk any more. All EA games are released on Origin, not Steam.

He's talking about Early Access, not Electronic Arts.

[OilSheikh]

What's the point of senseless games like these?