A Steam user left a negative review after playing Coin Pusher Casino on Steam. In response, a developer behind the game left a comment telling the player to “Kill Yoursells.” This has led to a backlash via a viral Reddit post, and an apology from the studio.
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Coin Pusher Casino was released on February 2024 by Tree Nuts Games and features lavishly rendered coins, gold bars, and poker chips that are pushed off various themed levels as players rack up jackpots. It’s the kind of game you play in the background while doing something else or listening to a podcast. And after playing Coin Pusher Casino for over 100 hours, Reddit user Koentjuh left a negative review on the game’s Steam page complaining that it was incomplete and its levels weren’t fairly balanced.
A few days later, as seen in a screenshot, a Steam user tagged as a developer for the game told Koentjuh to kill themselves. The Reddit user quickly snapped a screenshot of the comment as they were worried it would be deleted quickly, which it was. If you look now, the comment is missing from the review. However, when Koentjuh shared the screenshot of the comment on Reddit it quickly exploded, receiving thousands of upvotes and sending many people to Coin Pusher Casino’s reviews, where they complained about the developer’s comment.
The studio claims to have punished the dev
This seems to have forced developer Tree Nuts Games to respond to the situation. On July 6, just a few hours after the Reddit post went viral, the developer posted a statement on Coin Pusher Casino forums apologizing to players for what happened.
“We deeply regret the recent incident involving an inappropriate post made by one of our developers,” said the studio. “We sincerely apologize to the affected user and to the entire community for this unacceptable behavior.”
According to Tree Nuts Games, the developer behind the comment has since been “terminated and removed from the team.” The studio also claims it has started a thorough internal review and is looking into seeking “professional help” for members of its team.
Kotaku has contacted Valve and Tree Nuts Games about the incident.
“Once again, we offer our heartfelt apologies,” said the studio. “We are dedicated to improving our community interactions and to upholding the highest standards of conduct.”
Meanwhile, a few hours after sharing and deleting the comment telling Koentjuh to kill themselves, the developer posted on the Steam user’s profile page, apologizing directly to the player.
“First of all, I want to apologize for my unacceptable comment from earlier today,” said the developer. “Of course a customer can [write] a review or comment that he/she sees fit and It’s not my place to give an emotional response to a customer of Steam. It was in the heat of the moment that I responded the way I did and of course that is no excuse, so again my deepest apology for my unrespectful behavior.”
Of course, because this is the internet in 2024, people began picking sides. Many sided with the Reddit user and review-bombed the game or left negative comments. But some others sided with the developer, claiming that the response wasn’t that bad and praising the small dev for pushing back against a negative review.
As for Koentjuh, the Reddit user who posted the review in the first place, they told me that they have yet to hear back from Valve after filing a report against the developer and the comment on July 6.
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