Steam does not tolerate any bogus and fake reviews, as its developer Valve has banned a game developer from its market platform after they reviewed their own video game.
The said game developer in question is Insel Games — a Maltese studio whose specialty is online multiplayer titles. They have now been banned from Steam after evidence surfaced that they were tasking their employees with leaving fake user reviews of their games.
Evidence of their misleading work in Steam began circulating in Reddit after a Redditor named nuttinbutruth posted what appears to be a leaked email of Insel Games' CEO encouraging the studio's employees to purchase reimbursed digital copies of the game and review them. This, in turn, will raise the Steam review rating of a specific game, making it appear good for unwitting players.
The said leaked email from the CEO states:
"Of course I cannot force you to write a review (let alone tell you what to write) — but I should not have to. Neglecting the importance of reviews will ultimately cost jobs. If ['Wild Busters'] fails, Insel fails ... and then we will all have no jobs next year."
Naturally, this compels the employees to leave a review for the games they created.
Valve has since investigated the matter and issued an action accordingly. They have indeed identified unacceptable behavior involving certain fabricated Steam accounts controlled by the game's publisher. The publisher itself appears to have control over the said Steam accounts and is manipulating the score of its games, this clearly violates Steam's policy, hence the ban.
This means Insel Games will no longer be able to advertise their games on Steam and use the said online market as a way to boost or handle their game sales. Still, Patrick Streppel, the said CEO of Insel, is planning to appeal Valve's decision and is working on trying to get its games back on Steam.
