In yet another example of how creators can abuse their power to choke out any negative criticism, FUN Creators has begun silencing anyone who fails to speak positively about their products. Following the same mistakes which led to the PR nightmares surrounding Hammerpoint Interactive, the developer has been performing blanket sweeps on YouTube and their Steam forums. These have resulted in videos being flagged and taken down thanks to false copyright strikes, and accounts banned under the justification that any criticism was not valid.

Looking at the Steam Greenlight page of their game Guise of the Wolf, reveals multiple comments accusing them of deleting posts and even screenshots displaying acts of censorship.

The few responses by the developer to these have consisting of condensing comments such as the following, in which they cite using excuses rather than reasons for banning access to their channel:

However, it is not simply small targets that the group is going after. Unlike Hammerpoint Interactive’s recent efforts in targeting smaller YouTube channels, FUN Creators targeted John “Totalbiscuit” Bain. Both an uploaded stream and a lengthy critique in which he cited poor graphics, poor voice acting, continual no-clipping and countless bugs, have been claimed and taken down. What makes this an act of true suicide on the part of this developer is that they targeted a channel which repelled a similar act of censorship. Wild Games Studios, creators of Day One Garry’s Incident,  suffered from a severe backlash when significant proof that they had given the video a go-ahead was revealed. The small developer has now become infamous for attempting this, drawing far more attention to themselves than if they had simply left the video up.

Ironically in the stream, Bain himself stated he would “have a field day” if they tried to do exactly this.

The fact this has been permitted after both YouTube and Steam Greenlight have received such infamy for similar actions in the past is a sign things need to change. Both are open to visible abuse and the fact they can so easily silence criticism, even under false charges, is a failing which continues to harm the video games industry.

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