I read their Steam post. They spend a lot of time defending incest/rape kinks and saying “fiction doesn’t affect reality”. Sure. I don’t think people are gonna play this and immediately go rape their family, and I think people criticizing this sort of game easily get caught up in the “video games cause violence” claim. Australia loves that one.

But the thing they didn’t address, and I think is a bigger deal, is how this game is clearly leaning on and encouraging a culture of misogyny. The Steam description even talks about learning “what women are really like”, a common refrain from actual misogynists. This game doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and it’s part of a massive normalized rape culture. They’re just hiding behind the “it’s just fiction” defense.

What I do agree with the post on though (I can’t believe I’m saying that) is that this feels like a Streisand effect situation. This game doesn’t deserve the level of coverage and attention it’s getting. It’s basically free advertising for the misogynistic weirdos who this appeals to, and this ploy of “oh we’re gonna remove it from Steam ourselves” reeks of a desperate grab at more coverage and thus sales. If they were serious about delisting, they wouldn’t have conveniently left it up after making their post—even if only temporarily. It’s a classic “going out of business” sale.

Edit: They did unlist it on Steam, but it’s still for sale on Itch lol. I’d put good money on this whole affair making them monumentally more sales than they would have otherwise, and they have a larger platform than ever.