Dev behind Paranautical Activity Steam storm resigns, apologises

The developer who saw his game pulled from Steam after threatening Valve boss Gabe Newell has resigned.

Yesterday we brought you the news that Valve had pulled FPS roguelike Paranautical Activity from Steam after its developer Mike Maulbeck tweeted a death threat to Gabe Newell.

Maulbeck, who said the tweet was a sarcastic joke, had expressed frustration that Steam had erroneously advertised his game as an Early Access title.

Now, after his exploits hit the headlines, Maulbeck has resigned from Paranautical Activity studio Code Avarice.

He has sold his half of the company to co-owner Travis Pfenning and said he won't receive any money from the sale of the game or any future games the developer makes - or be involved in them in any way.

In a statement published on the Code Avarice website, Maulbeck said his threat to Gabe Newell was "completely unacceptable".

"As a result of my actions, Paranautical Activity, a game made by four or five people depending on who you count as team members, was removed from Steam," he said.

"I feel is it my responsibility to step down from Code Avarice completely so that Steam has no reason to harbour any more ill will towards the company, and maybe even if we can't see Paranautical Activity restored, at least future Code Avarice games may be allowed onto the platform."

Maulbeck said he was "really, deeply sorry" that his actions had affected the Code Avarice team.

"I'm sorry that my statements made Valve and/or Gabe uncomfortable and upset (rightfully so)."

He admitted that his "temper and tendency to use Twitter to vent" had been a consistent problem since he entered the game industry, and that he didn't have the "willpower" to be the face of a company.

Maulbeck's future remains unclear. "If I do continue to work in games it'll be as an anonymous 1 of 1000 at some shitty corporation," he said, "not the most public figure of a single digit sized team."

Former business partner Travis Pfenning issued a separate apology to Valve over Maulbeck's comments.

"I have been recently affected by my now (ex) partner's lack of civil control and inability to understand that words have consequences," he wrote on the Code Avarice website.

"I do not condone what he said. I do not believe he was in any way justified or entitled to represent our company in this way. I extend my hand to all of you in hopes that you can understand, that to err is human. We have all done it, at one time or another. This is not to say that what Mike said is acceptable. It most certainly is not."

Some have already labelled Code Avarice's apology a cynical ploy to repair relations with Valve and get Paranautical Activity back on sale on Steam, but Pfenning denied that.

"I want to thank Valve for the original opportunity to be a legitimate force in gaming. I also can not stress to Gabe how sorry I am for this situation. This is not how I do business. Hopefully Valve and Gabe will accept our apology. This is not a ruse to get back on the platform. This is a serious apology for poor behaviour."