Domina developer Dolphin Barn banned from Steam after transphobic tirade

Dolphin Barn Incorporated, the developer behind gladiator management simulator Domina, has been banned from Steam after uploading a transphobic rant on the platform.

The offending post was uploaded on August 31, 2022, and takes aim at the transgender community, mocking deadnames and suggesting that Domina would be changing its name to Dominus to "regain relevance."

"We're Out of Ideas, Mentally Unstable, Totally Degenerate, & Desperate for Clout - Lets Pretend We're A Completely Different Game to Regain Relevance," the post begins. "Please Respect Our Pronouns During This Difficult Transition."

The post can still be viewed here at the time of writing, and is best described as a nonsensical, overtly transphobic rant that culminates with a request for people to "stop destroying the innocence of children by lying to them about basic biology."

A post on ResetEra indicates the developer has now been permanently banned from the Domina Hub on Steam, preventing them from uploading more posts. At the time of writing, Domina is also unavailable for purchase on the marketplace.

"A recent announcement posted to the Domina community hub includes insults targeting another person. We also notice that you are clearing a number of reported posts in your hub containing various rule violations," reads a screenshot of the ban, shared on ResetEra.

"We made it clear in our last communication that future violations of our Rules and Guidelines like this would jeopardise our future relationship -- with that in mind, we are ending our business relationship with Dolphin Barn Incorporated and removing all associated products from sale."

A number of ResetEra users have noted that Dolphin Barn has a history of posting incendiary content on Steam, and a quick glance at some of the developer's previous posts uploaded in August and March 2022 show other instances of hateful language and transphobic content.

That begs the question why it took Valve this long to issue a ban in the first place. Game Developer has reached out to the company for comment on the situation.