Paranautical Activity

Macintosh/Linux versions

During the early access phase there were numerous complaints by players that the store page displayed Macintosh and Linux versions, but the developers never actually uploaded the builds. It is unknown if they were actually made available before the game's removal from Steam (see below).

Steam publishing problems

Paranautical Activity experienced some problems with its publication on Valve's Steam store. The developers originally started a Steam Greenlight campaign for the game in August 2012; in 2013, they made a deal with Adult Swim to publish the game on Steam, but Valve denied the game entry as their Greenlight campaign was still ongoing. According to a statement by Valve's Doug Lombardi, "(...) our message to indies regarding publishers is do it for your own reasons, but do not split your royalties with a publisher expecting an automatic 'Yes' on Greenlight."

Removal from Steam

On October 20, 2014, Paranautical Activity was removed from Steam, after its developer Mike Maulbeck tweeted a death threat against Valve Corporation's co-founder Gabe Newell.

The conflict was sparked earlier the same day when the final version of the game was released on Steam. It was erroneously marked as being still in Early Access, which caused Maulbeck to post a number of enraged tweets criticizing Valve, culminating - allegedly - in a now-deleted tweet saying "I am going to kill gabe newell. He is going to die." Valve's response was to pull the game from Steam, terminate relationship with the developer, and close Maulbeck's Steam admin account. In a statement for the gaming news site Polygon, Valve's Doug Lombardi confirmed: "Yes, we have removed the game's sales page and ceased relations with the developer after he threatened to kill one of our employees."

The next day, Maulbeck stepped down from his position at Code Avarice, stating that he had the company's interests at heart and hoped it will let the company re-establish good relations with Valve; however, he returned to the company a few weeks later.

In February 2015, the rights to the game were sold to Digerati Distribution and it was re-released on Steam as Paranautical Activity: Deluxe Atonement Edition.