It's not the same. If a female figure in the video game industry wielded as much power and influence as Gabe the entire landscape would be completely different. It would be an entirely different world, with entirely different societal norms. If there was a woman with that power she'd be able to shrug it off just as easily as Gabe did. But Gabe Newell has no female equivalent.

It's also pretty clear that the guy hasn't really learned anything from this experience. Look at what he's retweeting on his account - all either empathizing with him, or outright minimizing and disputing what he actually did. He's revealing his actual thoughts through retweets.

Don't say you're "going to kill" someone on the internet, unless it's followed by a clear indication that you're joking, and about 15 smiling emoticons. This really isn't a difficult rule.

This is some seeeerrrriiiouuusss perspective. Like...Daniel Day Lewis serious. Maybe even more.

Okay, in all seriousness this guy probably needs to see a psychiatrist (not for "immaturity" but for actual psychiatric issues beyond his control), but a) his apology was totally satisfactory and a lot more than you would have gotten out of Phil Fish or [insert other primadonna indie developer] b) Paranautical Activity is a hell of a game and I'm sad to see it get the bulk of its publicity from one developer's rage issues, which were probably magnified exponentially by Twitter being involved.

Takeaway: Twitter sucks shit forever. Buy Paranautical Activity when/if it comes back to Steam.

Jesus Christ.

I think you lose the right to say "no shit" to your detractors after you totally just did the thing that's so obviously fucked up and stupid.

It wasn't a "no shit" proposition to you a few hours ago, was it?

The dude needs serious anger management help. Or maybe he was drunk off his ass. In either case, learn from his mistakes, everyone.

@jonnyashley said:

Poor Valve, poor Gabe. The kid is 20.

In other words, an adult. I'm pretty sure even most 15 year olds know not to threaten peoples lives on the internet - especially when you have a BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP with that person.

And I'd hardly call anything that happens career-wise at age 20 "life shattering".

I empathize with him, in that I hope people aren't slinging shit at him on the internet. But it's also clear that the guy hasn't learned a goddamn thing from this experience, judging by his twitter account. He's sitting around feeling sorry for HIMSELF, not feeling any contrition for what he actually did.

I wonder how relevant AO Scott's recent article about the death of traditional manhood in contemporary culture is to many responses in this comments section. Traditionally not an eye would be batted at a company refusing to do business with another after the head of the latter made an immature outburst to the former. Immaturity in a professional environment is surprisingly tolerated by many commenting here.

And THAT'S why there aren't more Voxel-based games.

It breaks men.

There seems to be an abyss of difference between what people think social media is and what it actually is.

To the average person, it's a part of their every day life where they share personal thoughts and feelings.

To business associates or potential employers it is a representation of how you are going to conduct your business with them.

People need to really THINK about what they are putting on social media. NOTHING on the internet is private. NOTHING. It never will be, because of its nature. Unless you are writing a hand written note to someone that they burn afterwards, everything you say is searchable and obtainable.

This guy is 20 years old. He should be well aware of this, considering the field of work he is in.

I think this will serve as a harsh life lesson to him.

I have a lot of issues with Steam. The way it was forced on to gamers (via Half Life 2) so everyone had to have it was a lot of hot bullshit. There are a lot of more options now, but Steam is - by far - the biggest.

We are living in a time and place where we still have to explicitly state that death threats aren't OK? What the hell is wrong with society and people.

Of course if this gets back on steam they will give mike some cash under the table and this slap on the hand will have taught him nothing. I hope valve sticks with its decision.

How unprofessional can one be? You're a businessperson. Act like it.

It's like being online causes to revert everyone back to their terrible twos, except unfortunately with language skills.

Bullshit. Valve is under no obligations moral or otherwise to put up with someone sending death threats to one of their employees and 20 years old totally old enough where you should be smart enough not to threaten the biggest retailer that stocks your product. Who cares how big or small the team is Valve is totally justified in not supporting someone who sent them a death threat.

Also the guy's career isn't over. He may not be able to be the frontrunner for a game studio for years but he can still probably get a coding job somewhere if a company is dumb enough to hire him.

This guy's update. Holy cow.

"If I do continue to work in games it’ll be as an anonymous 1 of 1000 at some shitty corporation, not the most public figure of a single digit sized team."

Yeah, good luck getting work after preemptively saying the words "shitty company." HR does research. That'll be an easy quote for them to find now that this is part of his professional career.

Guy seriously needs to reevaluate his attitude. I'd love to work in the games industry and here's this guy flying off the handle and shooting himself in the foot before he's even working at a new developer...

It's amazing to me how many people feel sorry for this guy and/or make apologies for him. This whole thing is a grave he dug all by himself and now he has to lay in it. If anything I feel sorry for the other guys that worked on that game. They are the ones to suffer from his immature outburst.

@splodge: A reeeaaaaallllyy reaalllly harsh life lesson that he is experiencing in front of all his colleagues, future colleagues, friends, and family. I think your outlook is very cold. Logical but very cold.

Hate to see this but you see this all the time in non IT related fields these are the kids and adults that spend there life jumping from job to job if there lucky.

Its a pity that this type of person dost understand that the only person they really screw over is themselves I learnt this at a early age when taking my first part time jobs while in school I used to have a really really violent temper.

Anyway i hope he works his problem out and yeah its a problem if it forces you to quit what your doing.

He is absolutely not getting a pass.

As is life, I am afraid. IT sucks for him, definitely. But he needs to learn the lesson and if this is how he learns it... well, that sucks but it's just life. Business is business.

I have a friend who is part of a family who owns the largest bakery in Ireland. He travels throughought Ireland and UK to get different supermarkets to sell their products. If he had a disagreement with one of them and said something similar on twitter? Their entire business would be affected, and he would be rightly fired.

This guy could have employed common sense, but he was wrapped up in emotion. If the only lesson he learns from this is to take a breath and really think before he goes on the offensive, then that is a lesson that is not only valuable, but will improve his career.

I hope he has a good life from now on. This needs to be something he learns from.

@spraynardtatum: All of your compassionate comments shrug off the fact that the guy uttered a death threat towards a business partner. In most industries (in fact, every single one I can thing of), that behavior doesn't just get your products pulled from your business partner's storefront, it gets you fucking arrested. I am sorry for the confrontational tone I have here, I am just putting it plainly.

Thats too bad. The visuals in this game look impressive and wild, I might buy it on Desura.

This needs to be something everyone learns from. In the real world, no matter the context or justifications, sending the kind of messages this guy did just doesn't fly; employers or other stakeholders will drop you in a heartbeat. And rightly so.

EDIT: to add, I do think his statement in which he apologizes and mentions that he has withdrawn from the company and transfered all his current and future stakes in the company and its products is a commendable move; it was the only reasonable move but still.

"Learn from his mistakes" "Life lesson"

There's nothing left for him to learn or resalvage here. This is the end of his development career. No one should be surprised that it turned out this way, or defend what he said, but I at least pity him. If he ever does find the strength to make another game, this single moment of stupidity will still follow it to the headlines.

@legion_: sure, let's just allow death threats. what a swell idea. i think the action taken was appropriate. i hope the next time this guy thinks to shoot off his mouth and make death threats, he'll think twice.

And sadly I'm not sure to what extent he's really learning from it based on that apology and his twitter feed.

"If I do continue to work in games it’ll be as an anonymous 1 of 1000 at some shitty corporation"

He just can't help himself can he? Even the "formal" apology letter is leaking with his frustration. He's pretty much blown his opportunity to work a any other game company now too. calling your potential future employer a "shitty corporation".

Just keep digging dude.

At least he did the right thing though, sucks for his ex team members.

People who have grown up with the internet just can't handle being told that their words can affect people. They say, oh it was just a joke! Couldn't you tell I was joking? No man, I can't. Because we cannot see the tone of what your wrote, only the text itself. And it's pretty harsh text. You see all kinds of hateful shit and wonder, do they really think it's okay? Maybe they're just so set in their ways they can't see any reason that what they're doing is wrong.

A death threat is some end-game shit, let's be honest. You can say what you want, no matter how angry, but they second - the SECOND you start going "I AM GONNA KILL *INSERT NAME HERE*" you have pretty much given up what little benefit of the doubt you might have had. Seriously, I'd love to work in video games one day, but I'm not too savvy with blood curdling internet freakouts, so I guess that's a no go for me, eh?

This dude made his bed and now he gets to sleep in it. He acted with monumental stupidity, kind of continues to do so, and acts surprised that people aren't very sympathetic. Maybe he shouldn't have acted like a child. Maybe he should have taken a few minutes to think, "Is what I'm about to post really stupid? Yep" and then not posted.

Buddy, if this is "life shattering" then take solace in knowing that no one brought it upon you but yourself.

I didn't say that. And it's not a death threat. At least I don't view it as one. I'm kinda prone to treating human beings as human beings. Living, breathing, thinking organisms that makes a lot of mistakes, both big and small. I've sure made my fair share. Kinda what life is about.

Twitter. Just stop using it. The world needs more thought and less short sighted knee jerk reaction messages broadcast to everybody.

Maybe you're right. I just disagree with this bizarre public shaming of him and want to stick up for the guy because someone needs to. I think there are more empty death threats muttered between business partners than you could imagine. I wouldn't be surprised if Steve Woznyiak or Steve Jobs may have uttered a few from time to time. It's possible to determine a real death threat from one uttered in the heat of the moment.

I don't think I'm wrong and I don't think you're wrong. We are just looking at the same thing from different perspectives.

weird, weird, at first i thought it was funny but the more i think about it the harsher it seems, he made an extremely dumb comment but i dont think he ever intended for anyone at valve to read it, i dont think he made the comment to instill fear or threaten another person. Anything even resembling a death threat deserves punishment (given context i think this is a little too much, but hey its not valves job to agonize about these sorts of decisions).

Also, its such a terrible situation for the guy he worked with, i hope things turn out ok for that guy.

Im pretty sure this is that game i saw many moons ago and thought "hey rad, a cool voxel game!" And then promptly forgot the name :). I do looooove me some voxels (and balls).

Hope it gets back on steam, though if im really jonesing for it i could go to humble or wherever theyre selling it now. Also guy got what he deserved but i admit i feel a tinge bad for him, out of common human decency i suppose. Hope he eventually learns his lesson for his sake.

I think what he did in the end in regards to leaving the company was the most mature thing he could have at this point. Don't know if it will work in getting it back on Steam, but at least he tried to make it right in the end.

I agree that we have different perspectives on this; but I actually do feel for the guy on some level. My first thought when I read of the story this morning on another site and the fellow's strange not-what-happened recollection of it, was that he might have a mood disorder or is near a mental breaking-point; and for that I hope he gets help.

One thing I cannot budge on, however, is the severity of his conduct. It is one thing to say "people make mistakes", but quite another when someone puts forth the impression that their definition of "people make mistakes" (implying they are minor and a learning moment) includes making a death threat.

One e-mail to Steam would have probably fixed all that for him. Not sorry for the guy at all. Save your bitching for private times with friends. Twitter is the worst possible place to "vent".

I believe the internet once again blows something completely out of proportion..

is it ok for him to do what he did? no, its not; should the reaction be the one it was? no, no it shouldn't.

Valve's stance on this is not very admirable in my opinion, why punish all people involved just because of one idiot? seems like they are using their clear monopoly just to say "yeah punk, shouldn't have messed with us"....

You know what it feels like? ever watched Demolition man? you know that crappy politically correct future where everyone is forced to be nice to everyone else and cussing gets you a penalty? yep feels like we are in course to become just like that and it scares the hell out of me.

I've lost count of how many times i've screamed at my little brother at the top of my lungs something like "come here you lil bastard, I'm gonna kill you" after he broke something of mine for example, I guess that in a near future if that happened again I'd be thrown in jail and put on trial for attempt of murder...

I'm 36 years old ... and why I have made my fair share of mistakes I can honestly say that no matter how angry I ever got I never ever in my life threatend to kill someone. Would that guy have grabbed a gun and go on to shoot Gabe? ... Probably not. But under no circumstances is it ok to thraten someone this way. It's just not. He deserves everything he is getting.

Yeah, I'd like to see that but doubt he will. He has a loooong way to go. It's telling that he is the one who provided Valve's "we're done with you" email to journo sites for publication. I'm pretty certain he honestly thought he was in the right and would get generally lauded for... something? Taking a stand against Valve for putting up the wrong (promo) image for a while? I get that they've had difficulty with getting on Steam and all, but wow.

Don't get the sentiment that this was a "single moment of stupidity" some are taking from this either; the death threat was the proverbial straw, but this guy has quite clearly got a fairly long-standing history of being a total ass. There was nothing particularly constructive about calling his business partner "incompetent piece[s] of fucking shit" for a simple wrong promo image, and it's frankly astounding to me that Valve would typically even let that shit slide; they certainly have no need or requirement to do business with someone acting that unprofessional and repugnant.

I feel sorry for this awful person only in the sense that I feel sorry for any human being who somehow ends up being such a mess, but he deserves exactly what he's gotten here. Otherwise, yeah, my only real sympathy is reserved for the other people in his company.

An empty threat is still a threat. But even if the death threat wasn't there, this guy's outbursts were severe enough that he would have alienated the entire Steam staff anyways. It wasn't just the death threat, he was throwing one of the biggest temper tantrums I have ever seen over two issues. 1) He forgot (or never paid attention to) the hours Steam allows games to be released. This enraged him and caused him to go on a tirade over Valve's incompetence because... he himself fucked up the release time. 2) Valve mistakenly labeled his game as Early Access for an hour. This is not a small issue but one that is easily and quickly fixed by calmly talking with Steam's staff. But instead he went into an even deeper rage than before, saying a multitude of nasty things before culminating in the death threat. The death threat was perhaps the biggest factor but it was only one part of the whole picture.

With that kind of attitude of pure hostility, I don't blame Valve for ending their relationship with him and his company. That's the only sane response.

How do you know he didn't send any private messages?

And it's such a great conduit for drama that serves to distract people from their boring lives and lack of real problems!

Guy is a dumbass but at least he owned up to his stupidity

This is a "why you shouldn't freak the fuck out on twitter 101". Now, no matter what he does to try and hide it his name will be associated with all of this. All because he had a tantrum on Twitter and was a fucking moron.

Honestly I mostly feel bad for the rest of the people in that company. They basically got fucked because of what this one dude did. Imagine pouring countless hours into a project only for it to go to shit because your braindead owner decided to give a death threat (serious or not) to the head of the largest digital distribution platform on PC.

The thing is too I could be a bit more empathetic with the guy if he wasn't continually trying to dig himself deeper and deeper into a hole. At least Fish ended up deleting his twitter.

I still have no idea what makes the people that send death threats tick. 99.9% of the time if some imbecile threatens you, you are completely safe. The real dangerous ones tend to lurk in the shadows. So with no logical reason to make a death threat, why do it? No one will take you seriously and to top that off you show that you can not think logically even at the lowest level. Everyone gets angry. Use logic. It is more effective.

1. If someone at your work messes up too many times send them an email outlining the proper steps. Start at the very beginning of the process way before the mistake is made. Best to copy and paste from a manual to show in a sterile manner this is how it is done. Then a quick synopsis of why it is important. Keep the synopsis very short to show your time is valuable.

2.If someone higher up has some stupid new idea that is just garbage, ask questions. Ask why, how, if it improves the system, what are the pluses, the problems, just go nuts. Bombard them with emails. Copy your colleagues. Not only did you waste his/her 6 figure salary's time, but you planted a seed of dissension among the ranks.

And you keep your job. Logic wins.

People just do not understand the likely results of their actions sometimes. It's insane!

If you are looking to sell your product in a business and you went outside of that business and stood and yelled about how not only does the business suck but that you are going to kill the owner, why would the business or the owner sell your product? The answer, of course, is that they wouldn't, exactly what happened here.

I feel bad for his fellow game creators but you have to have a bit of tact from time to time, especially in public.

Man, what a fuck up. I do feel sorry for the guy, he finally got his game released but allowed his temper to get a hold of him momentarily and things aren't looking great for his immediate future. However I'm sure as time passes and if he keeps cool, he can make amends with Valve.

But he definitely deserves what he got here. No organisation would want to do business with someone like that and Valve was right to remove the game from the store.

And it was such a minor mistake too that I'm sure could have been fixed quickly. It's a real shame he list his cool over it.

But it's also affecting his team which is the worst part. Hopefully now that he has taken the right step and withdrawn from the company, hopefully Valve will put the game back up for the sake of the other people. I would also consider buying it, just to help them out.