Digital Homicide Studios
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Video games |
Founded | 2014 |
Founders |
|
Defunct | October 2016 |
Headquarters | , US |
Key people |
|
Products | The Slaughtering Grounds |
Digital Homicide Studios L.L.C. was an American
History
Founding and game releases
Digital Homicide Studios was founded by brothers James Oliver Romine Jr. and Robert Romine in 2014 in
The Slaughtering Grounds, a
Jim Sterling dispute and lawsuit
In November 2014,
Digital Homicide Studios eventually filed a
After four months of preparation, on March 4, 2016, James Romine filed a lawsuit against Sterling with the
The lawsuit process stalled after Sterling's side filed a
Steam users lawsuit
The Romine brothers perceived "relentless
On September 12, 2016, James Romine filed a lawsuit against 100 anonymous Steam users.[1] Most of these were part of a Steam group called "Digital Homicides", which accused Digital Homicide Studios of abusing the Steam Greenlight process. The lawsuit called this group an "organized hate and harassment group ... that specifically formed on [Steam] to financially destroy and harass The Plaintiff".[21] It further alleged that eleven of these users, who were referenced by their Steam usernames, had published a total of 20,000 posts containing harassment on Steam, Reddit, YouTube, and other social media platforms.[1] Through the lawsuit, Romine sought $18 million for personal injuries.[22] Claims included the purposeful posting of negative reviews about Digital Homicide Studios's games and requests made to Sterling to produce further videos covering the company.[5] Romine further requested a subpoena against Valve, the owner of Steam, to have the company provide the identities of the users being sued.[1][22] Romine again represented himself, while a crowdfunding campaign to support the lawsuit was set up through GoFundMe.[1]
On September 16, in response to the lawsuit, Valve removed Digital Homicide Studios's entire catalog (composed of twenty-one games and fifteen pieces of
Legacy
As a result of James Romine's two lawsuits, Digital Homicide Studios has been labeled as "litigious".[6][29] GameStar's Weber cited the studio as "Steam's worst developer".[5] In May 2017, Digital Spy ranked the lawsuit against Sterling fifth on its list of the "5 silliest legal scraps" in the video game industry.[30] Nathan Grayson of Kotaku opined in September 2016 that both of James Romine's lawsuits and the surrounding controversy could have been avoided if Valve had taken a larger role in Steam's release curation, which would have halted the release of Digital Homicide Studios's games. He also believed that the company "allows and systemically endorses Steam users to behave in ways that are toxic, verging on abusive, with developers and each other", thus enabling parts of the substance of Romine's second lawsuit.[31]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k White, Kaila (September 21, 2016). "Free speech or criminal harassment? Arizona game maker sues online commenters for $18M". The Arizona Republic. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ Andriessen, CJ (September 17, 2016). "There isn't enough popcorn in the world for this Digital Homicide case". Destructoid. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ Johnson, Leif (September 17, 2016). "Valve Bans Game Publisher After It Sues Players That Gave It Bad Steam Reviews". Vice. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- ^ Sykes, Tom (September 17, 2016). "Valve removes Digital Homicide's games from Steam". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Weber, Maurice (September 22, 2016). Steams schlimmster Entwickler – Digital Homicide gegen den Rest der Welt [Steam's worst developer – Digital Homicide versus the rest of the world] (in German). GameStar. Archived from the original on September 29, 2019. Retrieved March 6, 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b Good, Owen S. (October 3, 2016). "Developer seeking Steam users' identities for lawsuit withdraws case, saying his studio 'is destroyed'". Polygon. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
- ^ Ritter, Tobias (October 4, 2016). "Digital Homicide – "Steams schlimmster Entwickler" ist am Ende" [Digital Homicide – "Steam's worst developer" is finished]. GameStar (in German). Archived from the original on October 6, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
- ^ Walker, John (October 20, 2015). "Is Galactic Hitman Really The Worst Game On Steam?". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Klepek, Patrick (March 17, 2016). "Angered Game Developer Sues Critic Jim Sterling For $10 Million". Kotaku. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
- ^ Siemens, Sönke; Plass-Fleßenkämper, Benedikt; Schmid, Lukas (July 4, 2020). "Asset Flips: Der schnelle Reibach mit Fake-Spielen" [Asset flips: The quick rubbish with fake games]. PC Games (in German). Archived from the original on December 14, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ "The Slaughtering Grounds Is Now Live!". Digital Homicide Studios. October 31, 2014. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved February 21, 2021 – via Steam.
- ^ "Small Update". Digital Homicide Studios. November 7, 2014. Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2021 – via Steam.
- ^ "Steam Trading Cards". Digital Homicide Studios. April 13, 2015. Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2021 – via Steam.
- ^ Carter, Chris (April 22, 2015). "Slaughtering Grounds developer continues to be petty about one bad review". Destructoid. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Cosimano, Mike (March 17, 2016). "Indie developer Digital Homicide sues Jim Sterling". Destructoid. Archived from the original on August 11, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ a b Ibrahim, Mona (March 2, 2017). "Jim Sterling was sued for making fun of a game, and it was a bad idea". Polygon. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ "The Slaughtering Grounds". Metacritic. Archived from the original on September 14, 2023. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- USgamer. Archived from the originalon October 20, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (February 21, 2017). "Court Throws Out Digital Homicide's Case Against Critic Jim Sterling". Kotaku. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (February 22, 2017). "Jim Sterling comes out on top as lawsuit with Digital Homicide dismissed". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on September 29, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
- ^ Schreier, Jason (September 16, 2016). "Game Developer Sues 100 Anonymous Steam Users For $18 Million [UPDATE]". Kotaku. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ a b c Good, Owen S. (September 17, 2016). "Steam removes games of developer seeking subpoena for users' information (Correction)". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 10, 2019. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
- ^ Mlot, Stephanie (September 19, 2016). "Report: Steam Yanks Digital Homicide Games Over Lawsuit". PCMag. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ Mendelsohn, Tom (September 19, 2016). "Valve bans developer from Steam after it sues customers over bad reviews". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- GamesIndustry.biz. Archivedfrom the original on November 8, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ O'Connor, Alice (September 16, 2016). "Valve Remove Digital Homicide's Games From Steam For Suing Users Over Comments". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
- ^ Chalk, Andy (October 3, 2016). "Digital Homicide withdraws lawsuit against Steam users, says studio is "destroyed"". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ O'Connor, Alice (October 4, 2016). "Digital Homicide Drop Lawsuit Against Steam Users". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- USgamer. Archived from the originalon September 30, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ "The gaming world's 5 silliest legal scraps". Digital Spy. May 10, 2017. Archived from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
- ^ Grayson, Nathan (September 21, 2016). "Steam's Digital Homicide Fiasco Is Valve's Fault". Kotaku. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
External links
- Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived June 9, 2016)