Following the murder of George Floyd in the US, many companies--including game publishers and storefronts--have expressed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and have delayed events such as the PlayStation 5 reveal, EA Play, and the start of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Season 4.
There's been a notable exception, though--Valve, the owner of the Steam storefront, has not said a thing. Although a "Black Voices in Gaming" list was visible on Steam during the Guerrilla Collective streams, which were also postponed, Valve is yet to comment officially in any capacity.
In the wake of Valve's silence, gamesindustry.biz is reporting that several indie developers have pulled their games from the storefront. Julian Glander, the developer of Art Sqool, says that his game is no longer available on the storefront, and that he is unlikely to every publish on Steam again. In the tweet below, he posts his full reasoning.
tonight i pulled all my games from @steam and i don't see myself publishing with them ever again. i urge other indie devs to join me pic.twitter.com/JrtmdiGOdQ
— Julian Glander (@glanderco) June 12, 2020
"Over the past few weeks, Steam and Valve have chosen not to address the Black Lives Matter movement, failing to make even a broad and generic statement about social justice," his request to remove his games from sale reads. "It's than ever that the owners of this platform feel beholden to a base of angry white male gamers."
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