The Slaughtering Grounds

The Slaughtering Grounds
Developer(s) Imminent Uprising
Publisher(s) Digital Homicide Studios
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release
  • WW: October 31, 2014
Genre(s) First-person shooter, survival horror

The Slaughtering Grounds is a first-person shooter survival horror video game developed and published by Digital Homicide Studios under the pseudonym "Imminent Uprising". It was released for Microsoft Windows on October 31, 2014, via Steam.

Gameplay

The player must kill zombies, and the game can be played in single-player or a 64-player free-for-all. The game describes itself as "a constant intense experience while tossing in comical use of excessive physics and blood for those Laugh out loud moments". Various characters and weapons can be unlocked by the player.

Reception

The game did not attract much attention until it was criticized by Jim Sterling (formerly of The Escapist) as a "new 'worst game of 2014' contender",[1] citing its poor graphics, numerous glitches, bad controls, short music loops, and use of pre-made models and textures not made by the developer.[2] Sterling later used the game as an example of the lack of artistic cohesion that usually results from what he termed asset flipping, specifically drawing attention to the inconsistent enemy types and the placement of a United States Postal Service post box next to a London telephone booth.[3]

Lawsuits

In addition to his negative first impression video of the game, Jim Sterling also accused the developers of deleting negative feedback on the game from Steam's review page, as well as banning users who criticized it.[2] The developers responded by filing a take down notice over Sterling's video.[1]

On September 12, 2016, James Romine of Digital Homicide Studios filed a lawsuit against 100 Steam users for "personal injury" for a total sum of US$18 million.[4] This was followed by a request for a subpoena against Valve Corporation for the identities of those 100 users.[4][5] Later that day, Valve removed the entire catalog of Digital Homicide Studios, consisting of 21 games (including The Slaughtering Grounds) and 15 pieces of downloadable content, from Steam, stating that Valve had "stopped doing business with Digital Homicide for being hostile to Steam customers."[6] On October 2, 2016, Digital Homicide Studios dropped the lawsuit against the Steam users, with James Romine stating the studio was "destroyed" due to it.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Klepek, Patrick (March 17, 2016). "Angered Game Developer Sues Critic Jim Sterling For $10 Million". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Sterling, Jim (November 10, 2014). "The Slaughtering Grounds: A Steam Meltdown Story". The Escapist. Defy Media. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  3. ↑ Sterling, Jim (25 May 2015). "The Asset Flip". YouTube. Jim Sterling. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Grosso, Robert (September 16, 2016). "Digital Homicide Suing 100 Steam Users for 18 Million". TechRaptor. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
  5. ↑ Good, Owen S. (September 17, 2016). "Steam removes games of developer seeking subpoena for users' information (Correction)". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved September 23, 2016.
  6. ↑ Parsons, Don (September 16, 2016). "[Updated] Digital Homicide's Games Removed From Steam". TechRaptor. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
  7. ↑ Good, Owen S. (October 3, 2016). "Developer seeking Steam users' identities for lawsuit withdraws case, saying his studio 'is destroyed'". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
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