Here’s why Paranautical Activity is no longer on Steam

Paranautical Activity, the blocky shooter from Code Avarice came out of early access and launched yesterday. Normally, this would be cause for an indie developer to celebrate, but in co-creator Mike Maulbeck’s case, it’s not because his game is no longer being sold on Steam. Valve removed the game and “ceased relations” with the developer when Maulbeck sent a disturbing tweet (that has since been deleted) regarding a glitch in the launch.

“I am going to kill gabe newell. He is going to die.”

It’s not the first time Paranautical Activity has had issues with Steam. Last year, the game was initially denied approval for listing in the store despite attaining sufficient Greenlight votes because of an existing agreement with Adult Swim. That issue was worked out, but Maulbeck has since been critical of what he calls Valve’s “monopoly” on PC gaming. Paranautical Activity is still available on Humble Bundle and Desura. Maulbeck lamented that his game sold only twelve copies outside of Steam yesterday. Meanwhile, Code Avarice’s other half, Travis Pfenning, calls the situation a “nightmare”.

Update: Mike Maulbeck is leaving Code Avarice and selling his half of the studio to Travis Pfenning.