Platformica Dev Apologizes For Fake Reviews As Game Is Removed From Steam
The developer behind Platformica has apologized after his game was removed from Steam by Valve for posting fake reviews on the store. Several accounts that were under control of Lunyov Artem Pavlovych had been found to have posted positive reviews of the game. Posting on Steam, he admitted to writing the reviews and stated that he deserved the punishment.
“Yes, I actually wrote a few reviews for Platformica in October 2016, and I’m really [to] blame,” wrote Pavlovych. “I’m worked 2 years on my three games and… [in] half day… games removed. I deserve it.”
“We have identified unacceptable behavior involving multiple Steam accounts controlled by the developer of this game, Lunyov Artem Pavlovych,” said Valve. “The developer appears to have used multiple Steam accounts to post positive reviews for their own game. This is a clear violation of our review policy and something we take very seriously. For these reasons, we are ending our business relationship with Lunyov Artem Pavlovych and removing this game from sale.”
The move comes just a week after Valve also removed Art of Stealth from the online store for similar reasons. Developer Matan Cohen had apparently written a number of fake reviews from different accounts whilst also waging a war of words with users and Jim Sterling after the game received a slew of negative reviews.