Steam Developer Addresses Player Who Posted Negative Review ‘Kill Yourself’

A Steam user left a negative review after playing Casino Coin Pusher on Steam. In response, a developer behind the game left a comment asking the player to “kill Yoursells.” This led to backlash via a viral Reddit post and an apology from the studio.

Casino Coin Pusher was released in February 2024 by Tree Nuts Games and features lavishly rendered coins, gold bars, and poker chips that are pushed out of various themed levels as players rack up jackpots. It’s the kind of game you play in the background while doing something else or listening to a podcast. And after you’ve played Casino Coin Pusher After over 100 hours of play, Reddit user Koentjuh left a negative review on the game’s Steam page, complaining that it was incomplete and its levels weren’t balanced enough.

A few days later, as seen in a screenshot, a Steam user identified as the game’s developer told Koentjuh to kill himself. The Reddit user quickly took a screenshot of the comment because they were worried it would be quickly deleted, which it was. If you look now, the comment is missing from the review. However, when Koentjuh shared the screenshot of the comment on Reddit It quickly exploded, receiving thousands of upvotes and sending many people Casino Coin PusherThe reviews of , where they complained about the developer’s comment.

Studio claims to have punished developer

This appears to have forced developer Tree Nuts Games to respond to the situation. On July 6, just hours after the Reddit post went viral, The developer released a statement on Casino Coin Pusher forums apologizing to players for what happened.

“We deeply regret the recent incident involving an inappropriate message posted by one of our developers,” the studio said. “We sincerely apologize to the affected user and the entire community for this unacceptable behavior.”

According to Tree Nuts Games, the developer who made the comment has since been “fired and removed from the team.” The studio also says it has launched a thorough internal review and is considering seeking “professional help” for its team members.

Kotaku has contacted Valve and Tree Nuts Games regarding the incident.

“We once again offer our deepest apologies,” the studio said. “We are committed to improving our interactions with the community and upholding the highest standards of conduct.”

Meanwhile, hours after sharing and deleting the comment telling Koentjuh to kill himself, the developer posted on the Steam user’s profile page, apologizing directly to the player.

“First of all, I want to apologize for my unacceptable comment earlier today,” the developer said. “Of course, a customer can (write) a review or comment that he/she deems appropriate and it is not my place to give an emotional response to a Steam customer. It was in the heat of the moment that I responded the way I did and of course, it is not an excuse, so once again my sincerest apologies for my disrespectful behavior.”

Of course, since this is the year 2024, people started picking sides. Many sided with the Reddit user and bombarded the game with criticism or left negative comments. But others sided with the developer, saying the response wasn’t that bad and praising the small developer for pushing back against a negative review.

As for Koentjuh, the Reddit user who posted the criticism in the first place, he told me that he has yet to hear back from Valve after filing a report against the developer and the comment on July 6.

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