Steam's first ‘Adults Only’-rated game to debut soon

 

 

While M-rated or 'Mature' games are par for the course when it comes to videogames, the digital distribution client Steam has steadfastly drawn the line when it comes to AO-rated or 'Adults Only' games. That's all about to change when 'Hatred' is released this June.

 

Announced via a trailer last October, 'Hatred' is described by Polish developer Destructive Creations as "an isometric shooter with a disturbing atmosphere of mass killing, where player takes the role of a cold blood antagonist, who is full of hatred for humanity." PC Magazine warned readers to beware as "it's not the kind of thing you'll want to watch if you're a bit squeamish about violence or language," and suggested the game could generate a lot of backlash and controversy. Polygon condemned the game for its portrayal of wanton violence.

 

This kind of brouhaha might be intentional though as Destructive Creations seems to wear that controversy proudly. On its website, the indie developer states that the game is a response to "politically correct" trends in gaming. "These days, when a lot of games are heading to be polite, colorful, politically correct and trying to be some kind of higher art, rather than just an entertainment , we wanted to create something against trends," the statement reads. "We say ‘yes, it is a game about killing people' and the only reason of the antagonist doing that sick stuff is his deep-rooted hatred."

 

"My name is not important. What is important is what I'm going to do," states the unnamed protagonist, who looks more like the frontman for a death metal band than a spree murderer. "I just [...] hate this world. And the human worms feasting on its carcass. My whole life is just cold, bitter hatred. And I always wanted to die violently. This is the time of vengeance and no life is worth saving. And I will put in the grave as many as I can. It's time for me to kill. And it's time for me to die. My genocide crusade begins here." He then goes on to kill a variety of civilians and innocents including a businesswoman, some cops and a teenager.

 

Hatred was put up on Steam Greenlight—an open venue where developers put up their game concepts and ask users to vote for their inclusion into the Steam catalog—but Valve quickly pulled the title. "Based on what we've seen on Greenlight we would not publish Hatred on Steam," Valve's Doug Lombardi said in an email to Polygon: "As such we'll be taking it down." 

 

It was assumed that the game's provocative content was to blame, but a day later, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell personally oversaw the game's return to Greenlight. Newell apologized via e-mail. "Yesterday I heard that we were taking Hatred down from Greenlight," reads the e-mail. "Since I wasn't up to speed, I asked around internally to find out why we had done that. It turns out that it wasn't a good decision, and we'll be putting Hatred back up. My apologies to you and your team. "

 

Once reinstated, 'Hatred' quickly received thousands of Greenlight votes cementing its place onto the Steam catalog. The game will be released on the 1st of June. Destructive Creations told Eurogamer that the release date was chosen to dodge the launch of 'Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt,' one of the biggest upcoming releases that also happens to come from Poland. "Initially we were planning to announce the release date for Hatred on May 19th, but... well honestly speaking we will be playing The Witcher 3 then," said creative director Jaros?aw Zieli?ski. 

 

The 'Adults Only' rating is not insignificant. While many top videogames like Grand Theft Auto V feature violent content and some sexual content, most such games receive an M-rating from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB). The AO rating is generally reserved for games with more explicit sexual content. However, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have policies that forbid the publication of AO games on their consoles. Steam has been similarly restrictive so far, allowing some erotic visual novels but not without censorship.

 

One of the devs said he wasn't convinced by why they received the rating, and noted that the rating would make it problematic to port Hatred to other consoles in the future. "[With] AO we will have problems to to get to consoles in the future, but on the other hand I think you guys (our fans) would be disappointed with it." — TJD, GMA News