Online store Steam will not sell school shooting simulator

Parkland victims urged company to stop sale of 'Active Shooter'

PARKLAND, Fla. – The online video game store Steam announced Tuesday that it would not sell the game "Active Shooter" after calls from victims of the Parkland school shooting.

Steam said in a statement that the creator of the game that simulates a school shooting had previously been banned from the popular platform but changed the name of his business to return to selling games. The company called the game's creator who goes by the names of Acid and Ata a "troll with a history of customer abuse."

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That developer has published other controversial games called "Tide Pod Challenge" and "White Power Pure Voltage."

"We are not going to do business with people who act like this towards our customers," the statement read. "The broader conversation about Steam's content policies is one that we'll be addressing soon."

In "Active Shooter," players choose whether to take on the role of a police officer taking down a school shooter or the gunman trying to kill police officers and students inside the school.

Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jamie Guttenberg, was killed in the Valentine's Day shooting, called the move "amazing news."

Ryan Petty, whose 14-year-old daughter, Alaina Petty, was also killed, had urged Valve Corp., Steam's parent company, not to sell the game.

"I don't understand why a company would profit off a game that glamorizes or glorifies what has become a national tragedy, these school shootings," Ryan Petty said before Steam's decision.

"Active Shooter" was set to be released in June.