Developer team removed from Steam for reviewing their own game [Update]

Valve has removed the games of developer Insel Games from Steam. The reason is manipulation of the rating system in Wild Buster. The company’s CEO apparently urged his employees to write reviews.

To improve the ratings of its own games, developer and publisher “Insel Games” apparently resorted to unfair means. Games like Guardians of Ember or Wild Buster: Heroes of Titan are no longer available for purchase on Steam.

Email leak shows slight threats towards employees

You can no longer purchase Insel Games’ offers in the Steam shop. However, if you have already bought games from this publisher, they will still remain in your account’s game library. You can also continue to launch and play them via Steam.

Valve says that developer Insel Games was caught manipulating the review score of one of its games, Wild Buster. This reportedly happened through several accounts on Steam that wrote positive reviews and all can be traced back to the publisher.

Such methods are not “new,” but contradict the terms of use on Steam and lead to a ban, meaning the termination of the business relationship between Steam and the game provider.

Leaked email may spell doom for Insel Games

The Valve team is reacting to a post on Reddit that accused Insel Games of “forcing” their employees to write reviews. This involved the latest project from Insel Games: “Wild Buster: Heroes of Titan.” To improve the game’s reputation on Steam, employees were supposed to write reviews.

In the email shown above, which is also linked in the Reddit post, the CEO indirectly issues threats. Simultaneously, it is mentioned that the sales of Wild Buster do not meet expectations and that this is due to the review score. There are only six reviews, and there are more employees in the company…

The CEO had previously sent an email, but there were those who refused to buy the game and write reviews. This disappointed him.

Furthermore, it states:

“Of course, I cannot force you to write a review (or tell you what it should say) – but I shouldn’t have to. If you neglect the importance of reviews, it will cost jobs. If Wild Buster fails, Insel Games fails, IME [Interactive Media and Entertainment] fails, and next year we will all be jobless.”

Afterwards, he asks employees to buy the game and bring him the receipt so he can reimburse them. Those who do not want to should personally speak with him and explain why they are against it.

Update: Insel Games responds

In the meantime, there is a statement from the CEO of Insel Games. He told Gamestar that the email is genuine, but was not intended as a threat to the employees. The publisher has also contacted Steam to clarify the incident.

On the day of the EA launch [Early Access launch] in December, an email was sent to all employees in the company (about 20 people including freelancers), emphasizing the importance of reviews in the Steam ecosystem and stating that the failure of Wild Buster would put the company at risk. It was meant to mobilize support from people, including promoting the game to family and friends. Hoping to simply get more reviews.

It was never intended to threaten anyone but to highlight the importance of reviews for the entire company. No employee has faced penalties for not buying the game or not writing a review. No texts or templates for reviews were provided. We apologize for the misleading wording in the email and the practice in general.

The entire team behind Insel Games will continue to work on improving Guardians of Ember and Wild Buster while allowing access to our games through other channels. We hope to regain players’ trust through our future actions and are in discussions with Steam regarding this incident.

Until then, current Steam owners or owners of a Steam key can continue to play normally.

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