Controversy Erupts Over Racist Plantation Game While Valve Remains Silent

On May 12, a developer known as FzzyBzzy launched a highly controversial game called Plantation Simulator on Steam, which has drawn significant criticism for its overtly racist themes. Despite clear violations of Steam’s content guidelines, Valve has remained silent on the matter for over a week. The game has since taken a bizarre turn following an update from its creator, seemingly aimed at mocking the very audience it attracted.

Plantation Simulator is exactly what its title suggests. It’s a top-down simulation where players assume the role of a Southern plantation owner, coercing Black slaves to cultivate crops under the threat of violence. The game initially included a mature content warning that explicitly stated, “In this game, you will be whipping black people to keep your farm productive. If you whip your black person too much, they will die.”

For the first week, the game went largely unnoticed, with minimal player engagement and no reviews, according to SteamDB. However, around May 20-21, it began to gain traction as various YouTubers and influencers started discussing it—some with criticism, others with unsettling enthusiasm. Positive reviews began to emerge, many containing racist remarks and written by players who had spent less than half an hour in the game. At its peak, the game saw 109 concurrent players last night.

This peak occurred after the release of the 1.2 update, which transformed the Black slave characters into white characters. A subsequent update replaced the whipping animation with hearts, dressed the characters in bikinis, and altered the mature content description to read, “In this game, your friends wear bikinis and you can give them little kissies.” Following these changes, user reviews shifted dramatically, with a flood of negative feedback criticizing the lack of diversity and the misleading nature of the game. Most of these reviews also came from players with an hour or less of playtime and included racist comments.

FzzyBzzy, who now describes themselves on social media as “Creator of the worst games known to humanity :3,” appears to revel in the chaos. In their announcement of the second update, they stated, “Hi gamers! We’ve listened, and we heard YOU! We’ve fixed ALL the issues you’ve been wanting! We’ve added hearts and little kisses for your friends as you become the best new age plantation owner ever! Good Luck! And Keep Gaming!!! UwU.” Their social media presence has been similarly playful, including a recent troll post claiming their studio was shutting down and laying off 200 employees. This trolling behavior seems to be a pattern, as their previous game, Crucifer, was marketed as “the world’s most Christian racing game ever developed,” featuring a Roman soldier and similar themes of violence against slaves.

What’s truly perplexing is not just the existence of such a game, but Valve’s inaction. The company has a history of inconsistent moderation, yet its current content guidelines clearly prohibit hate speech and games that are “patently offensive or intended to shock or disgust viewers,” which this game exemplifies. In contrast, last year, the IGF-award-winning horror game Horses was banned from Steam despite developer cooperation and a final build that seemingly adhered to Valve’s guidelines.

Additionally, many developers have voiced concerns over Valve’s lax moderation of content that breaches its own rules, particularly regarding community posts, comments, and reviews. They argue that developers lack adequate tools to manage their pages against harassment or abuse, and when they seek assistance from Valve, the response is often inadequate, even in cases of overtly abusive, racist, or bigoted user reviews.

We have reached out to Valve for comments regarding Plantation Simulator on two occasions but have yet to receive a response, and the game remains available on the Steam store as of this writing.