Valve doesn’t take kindly to people violating their rules, and they don’t often budge on a punishment. That means for the indie developer Acram Digital, it’s probably curtains on ever publishing on Steam again. Acram Digital focused on bringing board games to digital formats like tablets, smartphones, and PCs, but it looks like the PC market will be much harder to reach. After numerous user complaints to Steam of fake reviews and abuse towards negative reviews, Valve finally stepped in and took action. Their statement was as follows:

In response, Kubas responded almost immediately to Valve’s statement by admitting his fault. In a lengthy apology, he blamed his actions on unfair reviews and his own frustrations. He made it clear that the fake reviews were only his doing, not his teams, and furthermore, that his company had never paid for a positive review. In closing, he asked Valve to blame him, and only him, for the false reviews.

It sounds a lot like Kubas wants Valve to punish only him and not the rest of the team at Acram Digital, but that is probably easier said than done. Valve isn’t in the habit of giving out fines. Instead, their punishments are of a direct kind – banning and removing content. Unfortunately for Kubas, Valve also has a pretty harsh history with bans.

Last year, Valve removed the indie game You Must be 18 or Older to Enter for pornographic content. Despite the developer’s protests that their game lampooned and satirized pornography from the early 90s, Valve didn’t budge. In fact, Valve didn’t even respond to the developers or even tell them their game was being removed. Instead, they simply took the game off Steam without a word.

Valve’s reputation for silence is legendary, whether in regards to new projects, current projects or policy positions, and they have held that standard with developers alike. It’s unlikely the digital board games of Acram Digital will find their way back to Steam anytime soon, and it should stand as a warning for future developers.