Indie Developer Reacts to Losing Overwhelmingly Positive Steam Rating Over Off-Topic Rant: “Please Don’t Play Our Games”

In response to a harsh negative review of the automation sandbox game Little Rocket Lab, Mike Rose from the development team shared some candid thoughts: “Please never, ever play any of our games again.”

Rose took to social media to express his frustration, noting that Little Rocket Lab had previously enjoyed an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam until a couple of negative reviews surfaced. These reviews criticized the game for being “woke” and featuring Muslims, claiming it was laden with “forced politics” and that they felt overwhelmed by “DEI nonsense” within just 15 minutes of gameplay.

Addressing the first reviewer from his developer account, Rose remarked, “It’s a shame that people like you exist in this world, but hey, at least we could piss you off. Please never, ever play any of our games again.”

For the second reviewer, he suggested, “Please get in touch with Valve and ask them for a refund – we’d really rather not have people with such backwards views playing our games.”

Rose also questioned why Valve permits such reviews, expressing his exhaustion with the situation. He stated, “I’m just so tired of all of this. Valve does nothing to solve it. Everyone can see it’s getting worse. Why haven’t they just put a filter on the term ‘DEI’? Why are they okay with this? It baffles me.”

This isn’t the first time developers have raised concerns about Valve’s handling of Steam reviews. Rose’s comments have resonated with other developers who believe that the blatant Islamophobia and prejudice displayed in these reviews violate Steam’s review policy and should be reported for removal.

The first review, which explicitly targets the presence of Muslims, clearly breaches Valve’s guideline against directing abuse or insults at players, developers, or groups.

As Dan Schumacher from the indie cooking roguelike Omelet You Cook mentioned recently while dealing with his own review challenges, “For the vast majority of negative reviews, there’s nothing to be done. Steam allows you to report reviews for being either Abusive or Off Topic, but my understanding is that Steam only removes reviews if they clearly fit one of those categories.”

Fortunately, Little Rocket Lab’s review score has since rebounded to Overwhelmingly Positive, maintaining a lifetime average of over 92% positive feedback.

Meanwhile, the sequel to one of the most poorly received games has faced delays due to its Steam review issues, with the developer expressing frustration: “Come on Steam, you guys are busting my balls here.”