Digital Homicide co-founder James Romine has filed a motion to dismiss his $18M lawsuit against 100 Steam users who left negative comments about the developer’s games and business practices.
The lawsuit was met with intense scrutiny from members of the gaming community after its initial filing last month–especially Valve, who dropped all Digital Homicide products from Steam in light of the incident. Within the filed document, Romine reveals that Digital Homicide was “destroyed completely” following Valve’s response.
Romine dedicated a GoFundMe page to the lawsuit, requesting support from would-be patrons to finance a lawsuit, which, evidently, his studio could not afford to begin with. Of the $75,000 requested in Romine’s fundraiser, only $450 was donated in support of Digital Homicide’s cause.
Valve’s swift and decisive actions to protect its customers have sent a clear message to Digital Homicide and developers of similar ilk–consumers should never face intimidation for exercising their freedom of speech, regardless of its financial impact on producers or the sometimes-unsavory nature of its execution.
