Valve Bans Developer From Steam Who Named His Company Very Positive

According to a recent report, Valve has had to ban a small-time studio consisting of a single person from its PC gaming platform for naming its company ‘Very Positive.’ This has led the Half-Life studio to conclude that the developer has been trying to mislead gamers by tricking them into thinking its games have received positive reviews.

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As most Steam users are aware, the info panel on a game’s page will display such information as its release date, as well as recent / all reviews, which can say whether a game is “mixed,” “very positive,” “overwhelmingly popular,” etc. Near to this is the name of the game’s developer and publisher. This means a development studio calling itself Very Positive can make it seem like their game has a higher review score, even if it’s been poorly received. Many users may take a cursory glance at the info panel and mix up the company name for its game’s overall review. This is the issue Valve is taking with the name.

The sneaky detail was first discovered by a newsletter and the subsequent deception became less subtle once people started getting wise to it. Initially, Very Positive felt Valve would not have an issue with the name, but it does go to show how much offense it can take towards a name. Just last year, a professional CS:GO user was under scrutiny for displaying a homophobic phrase on an avatar skin.

Very Positive (which is run by a person calling themselves Mike) took to Twitter recently to express their disappointment at Valve’s decision to initiate a total ban. Of course, this isn’t the first time the gaming conglomerate has been the subject of controversy due to banning people or games from its client. In 2018, nearly 180 games were removed from Steam for not meeting expectations. As of now, any attempts to search for the developer’s game Emoji Evolution simply yields zero results, so it looks as though it may have to find another platform to try and sell it on.

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Source: Eurogamer