Valve Pulls "Hatred" off of Steam Greenlight

[yourbeliefs]

Remember the game "Hatred?" Well, if you never heard of it, here's the reveal trailer.



Anyways, it up on Steam Greenlight, and then very quickly, Valve pulled the game, then stated, "Based on what we've seen on Greenlight, we would not publish Hatred on Steam. As such we'll be taking it down."

This seems more than a little suspect. Steam has a MASSIVE amount of games on it, and also carries games like Manhunt and Postal, which are about as deplorable looking as this game. This has also brought up the question of why Valve seems content to pull down games like this that may be of questionable subject matter, but then still allow games that are completely broken messes that everyone complains about to still be sold.
See these exhibits:

A:

B:

C:

So is Valve in the wrong here? I think they seem to be. I think Valve discriminating based on violence is a joke, and people have complained about Steam's lack of Quality Control for a while. And again, it's hard to justify taking a game like this down when you allow games like GTA and Postal and Manhunt to be available for sale.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Update: The game is back up... so I guess this thread is moot now...

http://www.polygon.com/2014/12/16/7406713/hatred-returns-to-steam-greenlight-valve

 

[meStevo]

I don't see why Valve was in the wrong to remove it, a lot of faux outrage the last 24 hours. Valve isn't the only means to distribute a PC game and they've got every right to opt not to.

In the end, I'm sure Hatred enjoys the press.

None of the comparable games (Postal, Manhunt, GTA) are anywhere near as gratuitous as this game.

 

[king3pj]

Personally, I kind of question the sanity of anyone who actually wants to play that. The level of violence in some games has made me uncomfortable and I'm pretty sure I don't want to meet the kind of people who think this looks fun. This game may as well be called terrorist simulator. Not that this game looks super realistic but at some point violence is going to look real enough that I just don't want to see it.

That being said, I'm against censorship in games. It doesn't exist in movies and I think adults should be able to make their own decisions about what media they consume. The problem is that all the press this game is getting is going to help sell it to immature boys who are too young to play it. I can already see footage from this game popping up on the news as the reason for the next school shooting whether the kid played it or not.

 

[meStevo]

Yeah, this is the equivalent to me renting Faces of Death as a teenager.

I'm not saying they can't make it, I just don't have any problem with Valve pulling it from their store.

Just have no interested in playing 6pm News on a Very Bad Day: THE GAME and as a result it's not a game I expect I'll ever contribute to the success of.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Hatred comes out next week, and unsurprisingly, it doesn't look like it's going to be very good..

 

[king3pj]

But it will sell much better than it deserved to because of all the press they got when Valve pulled it from Steam.

 

[Zookster]

A bad game is a bad game, but in terms of the possibly objectionable content in "Hatred," I really don't see how this differs from any other game where the objective is (or there are in-game advantages to) killing innocents. I've played the negative karma path on the first two inFamous games, and this seems awfully similar (including doing "executions" for extra XP). The only real difference as far as that goes is that you are also killing clearly bad people for supposedly the sake of a "greater good."

 

[yourbeliefs]

I think the main issue is that nowadays it takes a LOT to shake us gamers. Doing it via ultraviolence pretty much went out the window once GTA 3 came out and let you run over innocent civilians with a tank. From what I saw in Total Biscuit's video, it looked like the game wasn't really TRYING to shock people, or if it was it didn't do a great job. The main character's dialogue is cringe-worthy bad, and the actual violence itself isn't particularly over the top or shocking. The most "shocking" violence I've seen in games came more from the realistic violence, such as in TWD or Heavy Rain. I view this game's violence and "controversy" like I did to the Modern Warfare 2 "No Russian" scene. I had no attachment to any of the characters that were being mowed down, so who cares?

Inevitably while I think the game will benefit some from the controversy surrounding it, I don't see this being a particularly big seller. PC Gamers are pretty smart and can see BS pretty quickly and I'm sure the negative reviews will come in enough to dissuade most people from getting the game.

One random note: I Don't know how much the game costs. It actually has no price listing on Steam. Can't remember the last time I Saw that.

 

[Zookster]

I think the main issue is that nowadays it takes a LOT to shake us gamers. Doing it via ultraviolence pretty much went out the window once GTA 3 came out and let you run over innocent civilians with a tank. From what I saw in Total Biscuit's video, it looked like the game wasn't really TRYING to shock people, or if it was it didn't do a great job. The main character's dialogue is cringe-worthy bad, and the actual violence itself isn't particularly over the top or shocking. The most "shocking" violence I've seen in games came more from the realistic violence, such as in TWD or Heavy Rain. I view this game's violence and "controversy" like I did to the Modern Warfare 2 "No Russian" scene. I had no attachment to any of the characters that were being mowed down, so who cares?

Inevitably while I think the game will benefit some from the controversy surrounding it, I don't see this being a particularly big seller. PC Gamers are pretty smart and can see BS pretty quickly and I'm sure the negative reviews will come in enough to dissuade most people from getting the game.

One random note: I Don't know how much the game costs. It actually has no price listing on Steam. Can't remember the last time I Saw that.

Such fond memories of that Clementine scene. True story: about this time last year, I was introducing someone I was dating to the world of video games, thinking that The Walking Dead's interactive movie style of gameplay would be a good way to go. So I fired up my current progress in the first episode of the new season to show her how easy it was to play, and guess which scene came up next? She actually wasn't the squeemish type ... but I sure am. lol

 

[yourbeliefs]

Game's up for $20. I have to say it's rather odd to see a new release without at least a 10% off sale. Most people are basically comparing it to the original Postal.