Indie game Paranautical Activity has been taken down from Steam following the posting of death threats addressed at Valve's Gabe Newell from developer Mike Maulbeck. As reported by Player Attack, Maulbeck's game was initially highlighted on a Steam store segment featuring Halloween-themed games. Paranautical Activity was mistakenly captioned as an Early Access title despite being completed, to which Maulbeck tweeted the following:
First they force me to delay the game because I can't release on weekends, now this. Steam is the most incompetent piece of fucking shit.
— Mike Murderbeck (@SpooderW) October 20, 2014
fucking steam is just fucking taking money out of my pocket. misinforming people that my game is in fucking early access.
— Mike Murderbeck (@SpooderW) October 20, 2014
Maulbeck's tweets culminated with a threat stating that he was "going to kill gabe newell."
Paranautical Activity was removed from Steam following the posting of Maulbeck's tweets. "We have removed the game’s sales page and ceased relations with the developer after he threatened to kill one of our employees," a Valve spokeperson told Kotaku.
This would not be the first time a game has been pulled from Steam. Earlier this year Valve mysteriously pulled The Stomping Land from Steam Early Access, which received more than $100,000 through Kickstarter. Earth: Year 2066 was pulled and refunds offered following fans' concerns on the quality of the game.