The developer of an indie game on Steam says he has been the victim of a targeted campaign for months. Twitch streamer Asmongold supports him.
This is the situation: On December 28, 2024, Artur Smiarowski, the developer of the roguelike “Soulash,” posted on X, complaining about an ongoing campaign by “spoiled rainbow brats” against him and his game.
- Every update has led to negative reviews, with insults found under every post about his game
- “They” will continue until all sales platforms, communities, and influencers have “canceled” him
- In 2025 he wants to fight against this oppression
The post was picked up by Twitch streamer Asmongold. In a stream clip titled “WTF is wrong with these people?”, watched by over 700,000 people on YouTube, he explained: The developer is being unjustly harassed just because he didn’t want same-sex relationships in his game.
Asmongold is clearly behind the developer.
Discussion about same-sex relationships in the game escalates
Here’s the background: The discussion dates back to an update on August 15, 2024, when Smiarowski introduced family creation as a feature in his game. This should allow players to continue playing as descendants after the inevitable death of the game character.
A player asked the developer if it would be possible in the future to also allow same-sex relationships in the game.
The developer explained: The system is only for reproduction. Due to limited interactions with NPCs, he sees no way to depict relationships beyond that, which is why he currently has no plans to expand them.
This led to a discussion in the Steam Community Forum: Some players wished for a revision of the relationship feature, while others opposed it.
Some clearly didn’t like the developer’s decision and expressed their displeasure through negative reviews on Steam. Soulash 2 had previously received mostly positive ratings, but on August 19, Steam shows 34 negative reviews. One player complains that he was banned from the forum just for asking for same-sex marriages.
Developer on Steam sees rainbow flag as a symbol of oppression
On August 24 and 25, the developer then published several posts on X, equating the demand for same-sex relationships with wanting to “f*** everything that moves.” X and the rainbow flag, the symbol of the LGBTQ community, were compared with oppression by religion or the Nazis (via X).
The stronger negative backlash of 103 negative ratings, however, is only recorded for August 26. While it is difficult to retrospectively trace which review followed which statement, it seems that most negative reviews came after the developer’s comments on X.
On the same day, Steam also reported 510 positive ratings, after the topic was taken up by opinion leaders like Mark “Grummz” Kern and Asmongold.
These are the facts:
- Soulash 2 received negative ratings in August 2024 after the developer stated that the relationship system in the game primarily serves reproduction, which is why implementing same-sex relationships is not a priority for him
- Some negative reviews refer to the developer, not the game.
- Under the post from itch.io on Bluesky, there are comments that insult Smiarowski and advise against buying his game.
Reaction to negative criticism by influencers helps the game more than the criticism harms it
The facts are also:
- The criticism does not solely relate to the decision not to implement same-sex relationships but also to statements made by the developer on X
- Many negative comments have dozens of hours of gameplay and criticize the gameplay. Among the positive comments, there are many with little playtime, openly admitting to supporting the developer only because of his stance.
- Ultimately, Smiarowski benefited from the situation. He reported selling over 3,500 units within a week, more than he usually sells in 2 months (via X)
- Even now, the developer is benefiting again: After the initial uproar in late summer 2024, there were only a few new reviews on Steam, with an overall positive trend. After the post on December 28, some negative reviews were added, but many more positive ones:
The narrative “Indie developer is being targeted because he didn’t want same-sex relationships in his game,” which Asmongold reached 700,000 people on YouTube with, only reflects part of the truth.
As Asmongold himself says, he and his community were able to offset and compensate for the negative criticism through positive reviews.
A similar situation occurred in February 2023, at the release of Hogwarts Legacy. At that time, although some people spoke out against supporting the franchise and its creator, the support was much greater than the criticism. Twitch: Fans support Gronkh with €37,000 after uproar surrounding Hogwarts Legacy – “Should have more shitstorms”
