Domina is Steam's latest controversial rabbit hole, with Nicholas John Leonhard Groissen at the centre. He was first banned from his own community for misogynistic rants, but his game has now been delisted entirely for a transphobic rant he shared in the patch notes."Notice: At the request of the publisher, Domina is no longer available for sale on Steam", the store page reads. The game's publisher is listed as Dolphin Barn Incorporated, which is also the developer, but the game wasn't self-published. In reality, Domina's publisher cut ties entirely following the bigoted posts and comments made by its developer.Prior to its removal, the Recent Reviews score flipped from the all-time Mostly Positive to Mostly Negative. This was in response to Groissen's comments and posts, the latest of which claimed that 'Domina' had changed its name to 'Dominus', mocking trans and non-binary people by poking fun at the idea of deadnames. It also pushed a whole host of harmful stereotypes and narratives that place trans people as an enemy to straight men, though unfortunately, these patch notes are still up despite the game's delisting.
Following the patch notes, many on Reddit and Twitter called for Domina to be banned entirely, with the previous forums ban being deemed not severe enough - especially as it was temporary. Only one day later, the game was delisted, meaning it will make no further sales through Steam. It remains to be seen, however, if Domina will resurface elsewhere.
This isn't the first time that Groissen has landed himself in hot water through patch notes as he saw a storm of backlash in March after posting anti-mask comments and rants, saying "TAKE OFF THE FCKN MASKS" if you want to "get laid". But when called out, he doubled down, tweeting on the official Domina account, "Good women EXPECT and DEMAND confident, unmasked men who can still play for things."
Domina's Twitter was suspended following this, though he has since resurfaced on a right-wing alternative called 'Gab'.