A new game calledTax Heaven 3000promises in-depth lessons into the intricacies of the U.S. tax filing system in a dating sim wrapper. This unconventional title started making waves on social media not long after its genre got some mainstream attention withOverwatch 2’s Loverwatchdating sim.Tax Heaven 3000comes from MSCHF Product Studio, a small developer with one released game to its name,Chair Simulator. While that 2021 experience parodieswalking simulators,Tax Heaven 3000takes aim at the IRS, as implied by a cached version of the game’s product description on Steam.RELATED:Overwatch 2 Releasing Dating Sim That Lets You Date Mercy and Genji"Cached," because Valve pulledTax Heaven 3000from its marketplace on March 22 for unknown reasons. The adult content was likely not at issue, not least becauseSteam is full of dating sims, to the point this genre has its own category on the storefront. One possibility is that the game was taken down due to an influx of community reports, which some users have recently been calling for via theTax Heaven 3000Community Hub, arguing that any product asking for one’s social security number and other personally identifiable information must be an elaborate identity theft ploy.
MSCHF co-founder Daniel Greenberg subsequently told The VergeTax Heaven 3000was vetted by Valve in a standard listing process, adding that Steam gave the company no prior notice about its act of “deplatforming.” While the game appears to be a humorous parody of the U.S. tax system and over-reliance on software like TurboTax, its now-pulled Steam description also appears to imply it will legitimately assist players with filing their taxes, so long as they are federal. One other caveat is that the tax return forms it produces are only suitable for single dependents, which is what the game’s protagonist conveniently is, as already suggested by their willingness to date their anime tax assistant.
Though it remains to be seen whetherTax Heaven 3000returns toSteam, MSCHF is still moving forward with launching it via itch.io in early April. And while the skepticism toward the game expressed by some Steam users might be understandable or even commendable, ifTax Heaven 3000truly is an identity theft scam, MSCHF’s track record isn’t pointing in that direction, however limited. Namely, the aforementionedChair Simulatorboasts overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam, based on over 4,700 impressions, and the company seems to stand firmly behind its next free-to-play title as well.
While this unusual dating sim boasts a unique approach to an interactive tax system parody, some other games already tackled similar themes. One such recent attempt came in the form of alovable adventure puzzlerTurnip Boy Commits Tax Evasionwhich released for the Switch and PC in 2021 before making its way to Xbox Game Pass, PS4, and mobile devices a year later.
Tax Heaven 3000is coming to PC via itch.io on April 3.
