Note: This post contains screenshots of comments that contain transphobic slurs.
Trigger is not coming to Steam. Not until some dramatic changes happen to the service.
I was hoping I wouldn’t have to make this post. I thought that maybe the most recent drama surrounding Steam would die down and the service would become a normal platform again. The kind of platform where you buy games and then play them. That sounds nice, doesn’t it? Instead, there is more drama. Steam is yet again host to another childish, politically-fueled ratings brigade. And yet again, there is not a single peep from Valve. Apparently “reviews” with this kind of content are perfectly okay on Steam:
It’s not just the one comment, either. Through an ongoing organized hate campaign, this and countless other “reviews” have spammed the Steam version of Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear. Why? Because the developers dared to include a transgender character. That’s it. That’s the reason.
Here are a couple more “reviews”:
This is all, of course, being organized through the usual channels, primarily imageboards. Everyone knows the drill: A bunch of entitled whingers get offended, run to their anonymous accounts, and attack whatever minor little thing offended them. It’s tiresome, it’s predictable, and the big players in the games industry continue to do nothing about it every time, instead forcing those without power to take splash damage.
Small developers don’t have the money and resources to constantly fight back against this kind of nonsense. Tiny one-person outfits such as yours truly especially do not have the time and energy to fight this crap. Every single indie developer on Steam is one offended little brat away from being the next target. When larger companies keep silence, as they always do, we all suffer.
I have no interest in exposing myself either to the childish hate mobs, nor the cowardly lions in charge. Until Valve does something about the ongoing problem of harassment on their service, I have no desire to be a part of it. My game has already received ire just from the title alone—yes, the hate mob is that hypersensitive—and I have no interest hanging out in a den of wolves.
I’m a tiny little developer that Valve couldn’t care less about, so if you have any clout at all, I recommend giving them some incentive to change. None of us can do it alone, but standing together, we can make a difference. If we remain silent, nothing changes, and Steam continues to be a political battleground instead of a place where people can buy and enjoy games.
I apologize to everyone who hoped the game would come to Steam. You can still buy Trigger on itch.io, and backers still have download keys for that site. As an added bonus, when you download the game from itch you don’t have to be online to play it.