Several indie developers have opted to remove their games from Steam over Valve's silence on the Black Lives Matter movement. The past two weeks have seen numerous well-known gaming companies pledge their support to Black Lives Matter and various causes across America.
Whether they were simple statements attempting to show solidarity, or promises of financial support to aid the cause, most companies made their feelings on the movement clear. Valve has pretty much been the only major gaming company to avoid commenting on the matter - something that hasn't gone unnoticed.
As reported by Games Industry (via VG247), a few developers have now started asking Valve to take their games down. Julian Glander, who created Art Sqool and Lovely Weather We're Having, shared his message to Valve on Twitter.
"Over the past few weeks, Steam and Valve have chosen not to address the Black Lives Matter movement, failing to make even a broad and generic statement about racial justice," Glander wrote.
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"It's clear than ever that the owners of this platform feel beholden to a base of angry white male gamers. This makes me especially sad because I feel that some of these people are the people who most need to hear the message of Black Lives Matter. Obviously as a company you guys do whatever you want but I find having my games associated with the Steam platform to be embarrassing and a little nauseating."
Glander's decision also led to a number of other indie devs following suit. Ghost Time Games' Gabriel Koenig has removed Test Tube Titans from the platform, while Dan Sanderson has opted to do the same for First Winter.
"Giving up Steam was not a decision I took lightly," Koenig wrote on Twitter. "I've been making ~$1000 a month in sales lately, and leaving that behind made me feel uncomfortable. But if I continued to profit from their store I'd be complicit with their silence on hate."
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"To be honest, it's the very least I could do," Sanderson added. "First Winter makes no money anyway but still. It's the principle. And considering the shocking shit going on in London today, had to do something."
Whether or not this leads to further pressure on Valve to comment on Black Lives Matter remains to be seen, but it seems unlikely.
The choice made by these developers has proven fairly divisive among gamers, with some arguing that their decision to pull games from Steam makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. Of course, it seems to me that the three developers have all done what they've done because it feels right to them, not because they think they're taking down Valve.
Featured Image Credit: Valve