Steam Pulling Controversial Free Game Following Backlash

A controversial free game is being pulled following backlash from players, though it appears as though it won’t be permanently banned.

Although it might be very overwhelming searching through the Steam store, there are certain games that have managed to build up a large, dedicated community.

That makes it all the more frustrating when one of these games suddenly breaks, and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of a fix in sight.

This is the case with the multiplayer social deduction game Traitors in Salem, which is also the free-to-play sequel to the ever-popular Town of Salem.

Although it reviewed rather well when it first launched, Traitors in Salem has had broken servers for over a year, meaning you can’t actually play it at the moment.

What’s more, it appears as though in-game purchases are still available for players to buy. Many players have voiced their frustration, regarding this as an anti-consumerist move on the developer’s part by not fixing the servers or taking the in-game purchases offline.

However, it appears that Traitors in Salem’s publisher, Digital Bandidos, has heard players’ cries, announcing that the game will be taken off Steam while these issues are ongoing.

“We're removing Traitors in Salem from Steam at this time as it's unplayable in its current state,” writes the publisher on Steam. “This game has been unplayable since before Digital Bandidos took over the Town of Salem games. We do not want players to continue to see and attempt to play this broken product. All this means is we're removing the store listing.”

However, it appears that this won’t be a permanent change, as Digital Bandidos has also expressed interest in the game returning to Steam “at some point in the future after fixes and updates”.

Other alternatives to this have been suggested too, including integrating all the content from Traitors in Salem into Town of Salem 2, as well as re-imagining the gameplay idea into a brand new game.

It sounds like whatever has happened here, the fix isn’t as simple as we might think. As of right now, Traitors in Salem is still available to download from Steam, though the publisher has stated that “the removal from Steam may take some time before it is complete”.

Traitors in Salem was released in 2022 to decent reviews. It’s basically an Among Us-type game but with a Town of Salem aesthetic. However, following the controversy, the game’s review rating has dropped to a “Mixed” reception.