Domina delisted by Steam after developer's transphobic rant
Creator banned from own forums.
Indie Gladiator game Domina has been delisted from Steam, after its developer went off on a transphobic rant.
Developer Nicholas John Leonhard Groissen took it upon himself to use his game as a platform to spout these comments in a recent 'update' announcing Domina's new name - Dominus.
"We're Out of Ideas, Mentally Unstable, Totally Degenerate, & Desperate for Clout - Let's Pretend We're A Completely Different Game to Regain Relevance!" the post began.
The developer then went on to say that Domina was to be considered the game's deadname, before asking people not to mention it anymore.
The post continued: "We only mention it here to say: don't mention it any more. It's totally normal to change the sex of a video game and NOT CONFUSING TO ANYBODY. Please do not be a bigot. If you are confused, please simply stop being confused and remember that DOMINA doesn't exist and never did, but DOMINUS does exist, and always has, you just didn't know you were playing a man, who was dressed as a woman, but now that we reveal it to you, you have NO RIGHT to feel deceived."
The developer then continued to use slurs against trans people, accusing them of decieving people into having sex with them, naming Twitch streamer Keffals in the process.
In response to this, Steam has delisted the game entirely and banned the developer from his forum.
An image of this, shared on ResetEra, shows the outcome, with the creator told they have been "permanently banned from the Domina Hub".
"You were banned by a member of Steam Support," Steam explained. "Reason: A recent announcement posted to the Domina community hub includes insults targeting another person. We also notice that you are clearing a number of reported posts in your hub containing various rule violations. We made it clear in our last communication that future violations of our Rules and Guidelines like this would jeopardise our future relationship - with that in mind, we are ending our business relationship with 'Dolphin Barn Incorporated' and removing all associated products from sale."
Now, if users go to either Domina's page or the developer's other game Corporate Lifestyle Simulator, they will be met with a message informing them that the studio's games are "no longer available for sale on Steam" at the "request of the publisher". Meanwhile, a search for the developer will no longer bring up any results on Steam.
Earlier in the year, Domina clocked up hundreds of "overwhelmingly negative" reviews on Steam after the developer slipped anti-mask rhetoric into the game's patch notes.
After detailing fixes, new features, and optimisation improvements, slipped into the middle of the list was the command to "TAKE OFF THE FCKN MASKS".