Hatred developer says GOG “refuses to distribute” the game [Update]

Update (May 28, 2015): In response to a request for comment from Ars, Destructive spokesperson Agnieszka Szóstak said GOG "did evaluate the game and then rejected it. Sadly they didn’t gave the team any reasons behind this decision other that 'because of reasons beyond our control.' That was pretty much their answer. And the only reply the team got."

Original Story

Digital download service GOG has decided not to sell controversial shooter Hatred, according to the developers at Destructive Creations. "Hatred will not be available on GOG.com, even though gamers widely expected this to happen, because of GOG’s refusal to distribute the game," the developer said in a press release.

Destructive went into slightly more detail in a Facebook reply regarding GOG's decision, saying that the service expressed interest in distributing the game and "even tested it, and said that the game is good, but 'we can't.' That's the whole story." Later in the same thread, Destructive says, "we really wanted to be on GOG, but shit happens."

A GOG representative told Ars today it had no comment on the game or on its general listing guidelines. Representatives from Destructive were not immediately available for comment.

After announcing the game with a shocking trailer last October, a Destructive representative told Gamespot it hoped to release Hatred on Steam and GOG, "but actually we have no idea if they will let us to do this, because of all the shitstorm the game is delivering." A GOG representative told Gamespot at that time that they had not been in touch with the developers regarding the game. "You know about our 'boutique approach' so in any case, before deciding on a release, we would review the game and give our feedback to the devs."

GOG users have posted thousands of messages about Hatred on a number of discussion threads, with opinions on the game's content and potential distribution running the gamut. A "community wishlist" entry hoping for the game to be sold on GOG has amassed over 3,500 upvotes as of this writing, while another wishlist entry for users saying "NO! for Hatred on GOG" has 150 upvotes.

Steam briefly removed Hatred from its user-voting Greenlight section in December only to reinstate it a day later. Destructive said back in January that the game received an AO rating from the ESRB, which would make it the first AO-rated title released on Valve's digital download service. The title doesn't currently have an official rating listed on the ESRB website.

Destructive says that Steam pre-orders will actually be fulfilled on May 29, days before a June 1 general release on Steam and Desura.