The developer of the gladiator game Domina has repeatedly posted political messages and insults in his patch notes. After his latest escalation, Valve has had enough and removed the game from Steam.
This is the situation:
- Domina is a gladiator management simulator from Dolphin Barn Incorporated, which was released on Steam on April 3, 2017.
- The game received positive ratings of 78% and was also popular among critics. Our colleagues at GameStar even called it “great”.
- The developer behind the game, Nicholas Gorissen, has made headlines by posting political, religious, and aggressive remarks in the patch notes of Domina. This led to negative reviews, dragging the rating down to 33%.
- Following an escalation where Gorissen insulted other users, he was banned by Valve from the hub of his own game on Steam.
The ban, however, did not change the developer’s behavior. He referred to the Steam staff on his Twitter as “Stupid Fucks”, “Clowns”, and “trash” and announced that his game would no longer receive updates in the future.
It didn’t take long for his next escalation in the patch notes, but this time Valve reacted more harshly.
“Ask God for Courage”
This was stated in the patch notes: The news about update v1.3.25 had very little to do with the actual game. The majority of the notes consisted of transphobic messages that mocked the concept of gender transition.
It was allegedly claimed that the name of the game was changed to “Dominus” because there were no more ideas, that it was “mentally unstable and completely degenerate”. This suggested that the game had “changed its gender”.
Additionally, Gorissen directly attacked the trans streamer Clara “Keffals” Sorrenti in the notes and pitied “the poor drunken guys who had sex with transvestites like Keffals”.
At the end of the patch notes, the developer called for people to stand up for what they believe in and ask God for courage.
This is how Valve reacts: After their last warning fell on deaf ears, Valve completely removed the game Domina from Steam. The product page of Domina no longer exists, and the original link leads to Steam’s homepage.
The reason for the removal was multiple violations of Steam’s policies, including insults and attacks on other personalities.
In a statement that Gorissen shared on his Twitter, Valve explained that they would “end the business relationships with Dolphin Barn Incorporated and remove all related products from sale.”
Meanwhile, Gorissen’s Twitter account has also been suspended, and his tweets are no longer readable.
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