A studio best known for blockbuster games Shooting Alien Now they have a growing reputation for not taking shit from those who play their game. Its creator Hello And Destiny 2, Bungie, to come out in support of abortion rights, has taken fire from angry gamers this week. Instead of flashing like many other gaming companies, it comes back.
Monday night, Politico Published a Leaked draft The majority opinion of the Supreme Court to strike Roe v. Wade, along with the precedent of protecting access to abortion and many other protections which are not explicitly stated in the Constitution. The next day, Bungie published A blog post Calling a possible court decision a “direct attack on human rights” and sharing links with organizations where others may donate to support access to reproductive health care.
A Tweet There are currently 70,000 likes and 4,000 responses to the studio's position on abortion rights. This is more than the studio's January 31, 2022 tweet announcing that it is being acquired by Sony. Many comments are as ugly as you would expect. But instead of allowing blog posts and tweets to speak for itself, Bungi fired respectfully but forcefully at individual commentators.
“You're a video game company,” wrote one Twitter user. “You are a toaster,” wrote Bangi in a reference to the man's avatar.
“It's literally sad,” wrote another user. “You, as a gaming company, are really going to start choosing a party when you should not be involved with this political BS. As a gaming company your focus should be on how to make people happy with your games. Not your opinion. Don't. Seriously. “
“We chose our side and it was not difficult,” Bungi replied. “Our company values exist outside of our game.”
Many comments have been deleted since Bungie. Others have been saved in the screenshot Began to fly Even more so than Bungi’s original post, as supporters pass around them which would otherwise be a dark and painful moment for the country, especially those whose bodies would be directly affected by the slate of the new strict abortion law.
Griffin Bennett, the studio's social media manager, said: “Thank you for your kind words, but genuine appreciation goes out to our Bungi leadership who are not afraid to stand up for what is right.” Wrote Later
Video game companies are notoriously conservative when it comes to potentially annoying fans, even when it comes to the most warm feelings like “fascism is bad”. If you want to give someone a unique window on the annoying ID of a certain modern gamer, show them Not a trivial debate Nearby Wolfenstein II: The New ColossusThe glory of literally killing the Nazis. That's why publishers like Ubisoft now have a reputation for trying to claim their military shooters Not political.
This has changed somewhat in recent years, especially in the wake of the revived social justice movement. Start with George Floyd's protest Against the police killings in 2020, gaming companies have become more outspoken on such issues Black Lives Matter, Asian anti-violenceAnd Trans rights. Of course, the actions speak louder than words, but Bungi Kotaku confirmed that it is not ready to share any more information about abortion rights and its own plans to donate to reproductive health care groups.
But in an industry where companies invest millions in annual marketing campaigns for their brands and products, that's nothing. And as Jess Reyes writes The oppositeSilence throughout the rest of the video game industry, some loneliness, Senior voiceHas been deaf so far.
