The game “Postal 3” by the developer studio “Running with Scissors” was removed from Steam. The developer studio posted on Twitter expressing relief that no one will be able to purchase their game anymore. The players are also glad about this.
Which game is it about? Postal 3 is part of a game series by “Running with Scissors”. The studio is known for its violent and satirical shooter games, which have already caused controversies.
Postal 2 was even banned in 2004 in New Zealand by the “Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC)” on the grounds that: “The game is designed and has the capacity for the player to test how much violence and humiliation he or she can inflict on people” (via eurogamer & gamespot).
Developer studio expresses happiness over the removal of the game
What did the developer studio say about the removal of Postal 3? The developer studio Running With Scissors posted on November 21, 2022, on Twitter a statement commenting on the removal of Postal 3 from Steam:
“Due to the DRM issues of Postal 3 and the general crappiness of the game itself, the game will officially no longer be sold on Steam.
We had no control over the site, so we couldn’t make it free before the DRM problems started.
At least people won’t be able to buy this crap anymore!”
Here you can see the Twitter post:
DRM is the abbreviation for “Digital Rights Management” and regulates legal access to digital content. This includes technology that determines what users can do with a product and prevents the creation of copies.
Why are the developers happy about the removal of Postal 3? The game was released by Akella, another game company, and not by Running with Scissors itself, which is why the studio distanced itself from Postal 3 earlier.
In an FAQ about Postal 2, a developer explained: “It was licensed to a Russian publisher and developer who was supposed to produce the game according to our design, with a much larger team and budget than we had for POSTAL 2.
Even considering these facts, it didn’t work out very well. It was a mistake that we won’t repeat” (via Steam).
Developers and players agree and celebrate
How is the community reacting to the post? Both on Twitter and on reddit, many players express positive feelings about the game being removed from Steam. Users write under the Twitter post such as:
- @zekk_17: “Finally, evil is defeated!”
- @spacetrainbaby: “I don’t think anyone wants to buy Postal 3 in the future”
- @SpaceBunnn: “Postal 3 is the only game that gets your PC to think it’s a virus.”
How did Postal 3 perform in player ratings? In the screenshot from the developers’ Twitter post, it shows that the game performed predominantly poorly. The Steam page itself can no longer be accessed, so the reviews there are no longer traceable.
However, the game also performs poorly on the review website metacritic, with a Metascore of 24 and a User Score of 3.2 (as of November 22, 2022). Players criticize mainly technical issues, as well as the overall gameplay of Postal 3.
Two other titles from the series “Postal: Brain Damaged” and “Postal 4: No Regerts”, as well as their expansions, are still available on Steam.
Another game studio has also had enough with their game: Rockstar is currently closing roleplay servers of GTA Online, banning NFTs and cryptos, tightening rules.
