Controversial Steam Game Returns After Being Removed From Sale

A popular and controversal Steam game has returned after being removed by Valve, the owners of the digital PC storefront. Why Valve removed the game in question from Steam, we still don’t know, but it’s back, but not on Steam. Rather, the game has returned via Itch.io, an alternative to Steam. If you haven’t connected the dots, the mystery game is Tax Heaven 3000, which can be played again via Itch.io, and just like on Steam, it’s avaialble there for free. 

Tax Heaven 3000 burst onto the scene out of nowhere last month as a free-to-play visual novel game that does your taxes for you, literally. The game was quickly taking off on Steam, but then it was yanked from the storefront. Some theorized it was because of the game’s sexual content, however, what’s more likely was Valve was nervouus about the game’s unique mechanic, which was how it actually did the taxes of its players. This in itself isn’t contentious, but the game required a social security number input. This is what likelly caught the attention of the Valve ban hammer. Whatever the case, there’s still no word of it coming back.

“Hi there! Iris here. Tax Heaven 3000 is a visual novel dating game that actually prepares your 2022 federal income tax return,” reads an official blurb about the game. “It’s always been a dream of mine to meet that special someone…and file their tax return. Join me and we’ll search for deductions while searching for love! Be careful! We’re not alone. Most wealthy countries make tax filing free, if the burden of preparation is even passed along to individuals at all. But, corporate tax filing services are (by dint of extensive lobbying) predatory, parasitic bottlenecks that deliberately complicate the tax filing process in order to make it unnavigable by ordinary people. And it works! The villainous corporation that controls the government from the shadows is a sadly mundane reality. It’s the most boring industry imaginable. Videogames are, at the end of the day, pieces of software-ontologically akin to Microsoft Word. Tax Heaven 3000 simply makes the fiction the point. For some reason the game-to-real-life interface has tended to remain the purview of corporate metaverse fictions. Tax Heaven 3000 is a dongle that adapts from a visual novel to the IRS. Come on, let’s get started! I can already tell I’m going to like you. And remember, If you die in the game you die in real life if you prepare your taxes in the game, you prepare your taxes in real life. Suitable for single filers without dependents. Tax Heaven 3000 assists a player in creating a self-prepared United States federal income tax return.

As always, we will keep you updated. There’s no word why the game was pulled from Steam or if it will return. There’s also no word of the game coming to consoles. However, the social security requirement — even if you get past it by putting in a fake one — is likely to be an issue for console platform holders as well. That said, while the game’s future is a mystery, it’s back to being available on PC for all who want to try it out.