Paranautical Activity sold to Digerati Distribution

Returns to Steam as the Deluxe Atonement Edition

As I’m sure some of you are aware, Code Avarice’s delightful, drum and bass-infused FPS roguelike Paranautical Activity was pulled from Steam last October after one of the game’s creators took to Twitter to vent his frustrations with the service, going so far as to threaten Valve co-founder Gabe Newell. The lesson we can all take away from this? Don’t shit where you eat, my friend.

Thankfully, indie publisher Digerati Distribution had the good sense and common decency to step in to rectify the situation by purchasing the intellectual property rights to the game, and after some negotiation with Valve, managed to get the title back up on Steam where it belongs.

“We bought the IP, so it is now a Digerati title,” said Digerati’s Nick Alfieri in an email to Destructoid. The publisher also noted that it made a gamble when purchasing the property and picked up the rights without any guarantee Valve would reverse its decision and allow the title to be sold on Steam again.

Paranautical Activity returned to Valve’s hallowed halls last Friday, resurrected as the Deluxe Atonement Edition, featuring a slippery new floor (because who doesn’t love ice levels?), a new weapon type and various digital goodies, such as developer footage, and commentary as well as a strategy guide for honing your skills at the devilishly difficult game.

Personally, I’m ecstatic that the indie publisher took the gamble on this one. I’ve been playing around with Paranautical Activity since the game was an awkward, frustrating beta build on Desura; so when I heard that it was being pulled from Steam it came to me as quite a letdown. It’s not terribly often that a publisher gets positive press these days, but Digerati Distribution certainly deserves it in this case.

Paranautical Activity: Deluxe Atonement Edition is available on the Humble Store, GOG.com, and Steam and is currently on sale for $6.99. As a side note, all preexisting owners of the title will have their copy upgraded to the new Atonement Edition, free of charge.