Games you love/loved that have shitty people involved in making them.

[Lightning Count]

OK this might get ugly, but let's try and keep a lid on it, but the sad truth there have a lot of games loved by us only for it to later emerge that key people involved with said games are shitty people. Let's talk about it.

Quantic Dream. - I have owned and played almost every game they have ever made going back to Omikron The Nomad Soul on the Dreamcast, I enjoyed most of them some more than others. Now David Cage has outed himself as a homophobic and misogynistic prick, and QD's studio work culture is very toxic. Unless things change and David Cage remains with QD I will never buy another of their games new again.

Ubisoft - I don't need to go into detail on this.

Bethesda - specifically The Elder Scrolls series, I started with Morrowind, Jeremy Soule's music was a huge part of why I loved the games but I cannot go back to it knowing what Soule is accused of and after hearing what women have said about him.

Reuben Langdon - an off the deep end QAnon truther, antivaxxer and Trump supporter. Fuck this guy forever. I'll tolerate him in minor roles or as an extra doing voicework, but if he's playing a main character then it's a no from me.

I could go on all day, but over to you now, ERA.

 

[Khanimus]

Let's be frank - nearly every fucking studio has these people.

Every major studio has cases of harassment, misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and every disgusting dehumanizing case under the sun. How these studios handle these cases is what turns it from a shitty person needing to be terminated, to a culture of protected toxicity where victims are less and less inclined to speak up lest they face reprisal from peers and a grotesque corporate culture. And independent studios aren't free of this either - in-fact smaller, more insular dev groups just mean even less safe-guards for people to trust and turn to in these cases.

There are far more scumbags in this industry you don't know about than ones you do. People reacting to stories of Blizzard's shit by going "I'M SO GLAD I DON'T PLAY WOW, AND INSTEAD PLAY FFXIV" are fucking fooling themselves.

 

[Exist 2 Inspire]

Probably every game ever lol.

 

[lost7]

Witcher 3. It's one of my favourite games ever but CD Project went from one of my favourite studios to one I'm so disappointed in

 

[Lightning Count]

Let's be frank - nearly every fucking studio has these people.

Every major studio has cases of harassment, misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and every disgusting dehumanizing case under the sun. How these studios handle these cases is what turns it from a shitty person needing to be terminated, to a culture of protected toxicity where victims are less and less inclined to speak up lest they face reprisal from peers and a grotesque corporate culture. And independent studios aren't free of this either - in-fact smaller, more insular dev groups just mean even less safe-guards for people to trust and turn to in these cases.

There are far more scumbags in this industry you don't know about than ones you do. People reacting to stories of Blizzard's shit by going "I'M SO GLAD I DON'T PLAY WOW, AND INSTEAD PLAY FFXIV" are fucking fooling themselves.

Click to shrink...

Name and shame, the more we know we know, the better.

 

[Katmeister]

There are far more scumbags in this industry you don't know about than ones you do. People reacting to stories of Blizzard's shit by going "I'M SO GLAD I DON'T PLAY WOW, AND INSTEAD PLAY FFXIV" are fucking fooling themselves.

Click to shrink...

I wish metoo would take off in Japan because I'm sure there plenty of horror stories from behind the scenes sadly. Unfortunately Japan's culture of prioritising harmony (i.e not causing a fuss) is what is likely preventing a lot of women from speaking out.

--

(I am not targeting anyone in particular with this post in particular. So if this ain't you then it's not about you)

Remember folks, Japan isn't a backwards conservative hellhole, there are feminists and LGBT rights activists operating within the country. Instead of writing the country off (which I see a lot of people doing on this forum, weird how racism is suddenly ok when the people you're racist against are more likely to be conservative... huh) please support feminists and activisits in Japan as they are the one's who will push for change!

Oh and I almost posted this with "LGBT rights activsions" instead of "LGBT rights activists" haha. Tho an LGBT rights Activsion would be superior to whatever Kotick is running right now.

 

[Khanimus]

Name and shame, the more we know we know, the better.

Click to shrink...

And for the victims that don't want to "name and shame" because coming forward means inviting all sorts of harassment? Or risk ostracization from tight-knit dev communities because nobody wants to turn on the one asshole they all want to cozy up to?

This shit isn't easy to fix. People who endured these cases aren't given easy/obvious solutions here that don't also risk their jobs or well-being. We can support the ones that have come forward, but not everyone wants to advertise their trauma with a megaphone.

 

[dskzero]

Anything made by Blizzard can be put nicely in there. Some of my favorite games are made by them, and I played so much Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. I did spend money on Hearthstone until they fucked it up with that stupid battle pass. Nowadays I can't really stand them.

Hopefully Microsoft will spank them into decency, somehow.

 

[JumbiePrime]

Eternal Darkness . I'm not a 100 on what happened but remember hear Dyack was pretty vile

 

[Herb Alpert]

Dragon quest series

 

[TheMoon]

Probably every game ever lol.

Click to shrink...

boom. this is the one.

 

[Kain-Nosgoth]

Jordan peterson is literally referenced, in a good light, in The Messenger... the shopkeeper tells the story of "jordan the wise" and just quote his stuff and it's supposed to be enlightening... And the main writer is one of the head of the studio too...





Also the fact that the preview build of the game had that joke, but was removed (the peterson stuff stayer) :

I wish i knew that before backing sea of stars on kickstarter

 

[indosmoke]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance, for sure.

Such a unique game, I absolutely loved the setting, (most of) the game mechanics, the open world feels incredible...
I didn't care much for the story though, and the writing was often mediocre. A few things rubbed me the wrong way with how they were presented. And of course some of the game director's views... ugh.

 

[sibarraz]

I feel I would have an easier time naming the games without the shitty people involved

 

[TheDinoman]

Eternal Darkness . I'm not a 100 on what happened but remember hear Dyack was pretty vile

Click to shrink...

Its co-writer is also a pedo

Ex-Silicon Knights dev sentenced in child pornography case, charged with sexual assault

Kenneth McCulloch, the former Silicon Knights director and Precursor Games founder who was arrested last year on child pornography charges, was sentenced this week in an Ontario Court of Justice. A...

www.polygon.com

 

[Barrel Cannon]

Jordan peterson is literally referenced, in a good light, in The Messenger... the shopkeeper tells the story of "jordan the wise" and just quote his stuff and it's supposed to be enlightening... And the main writer is one of the head of the studio too...





Also the fact that the preview build of the game had that joke, but was removed (the peterson stuff stayer) :

I wish i knew that before backing sea of stars on kickstarter

Click to shrink...

Oh no....

 

[JumbiePrime]

Its head writer is also a pedo

Ex-Silicon Knights dev sentenced in child pornography case, charged with sexual assault

Kenneth McCulloch, the former Silicon Knights director and Precursor Games founder who was arrested last year on child pornography charges, was sentenced this week in an Ontario Court of Justice. A...

www.polygon.com

Click to shrink...

Ahhhhhh okay . I know Dyack is no saint but this is the one I was thinking about in particular .

 

[Ashrak]

Wouldn't it be about time for a general thread about the question of whether you can separate art from the artist? Can you watch Minority Report even though the Scientology motherfucker is the main actor? Can you listen to the Ride of the Valkyries even though Richard Wagner was a self-confessed anti-Semite?

 

[EarthPainting]

Koichi Sugiyama's my go-to example of this. He was a hateful old man that had been phoning it in since the 2000s, but Dragon Quest games still meant a lot to me. Glad he's gone.

Similarly, Michiru Yamane has made the score of many of my all-time favourites, and absolutely still crushes it whenever she's asked to compose something. Unfortunately she's a conservative weirdo who's way off the deep end with shitty conspiracy theories.

 

[EvilBoris]

Beyond Good and Evil and the Rayman games.
Ancel was french Miyamoto and instead it turns out he's worse

 

[Dervius]

Jordan peterson is literally referenced, in a good light, in The Messenger... the shopkeeper tells the story of "jordan the wise" and just quote his stuff and it's supposed to be enlightening... And the main writer is one of the head of the studio too...





Also the fact that the preview build of the game had that joke, but was removed (the peterson stuff stayer) :

I wish i knew that before backing sea of stars on kickstarter

Click to shrink...

Oh dang, that's a surprise. I played some of the Messenger and enjoyed it, but this seems bizarrely injected.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance, for sure.

Such a unique game, I absolutely loved the setting, (most of) the game mechanics, the open world feels incredible...
I didn't care much for the story though, and the writing was often mediocre. A few things rubbed me the wrong way with how they were presented. And of course some of the game director's views... ugh.

Click to shrink...

This is the first time I've consciously boycotted a game. The grounded RPG approach was incredbiyl appealing, but when so much of Vavra's views and Gamergate affiliations came to light I just couldn't enjoy it in good conscience.

CDPR was a rough one, after adoring so much of TW3.

I also recall exposés to varying degrees on Rocksteady and Techland which were both sorely disappointing after enjoying their games so much.

 

[Striferser]

Yoshitora Tokugawa in Samurai Shodown is designed by Nobuhiro Watsuki (rurouni kenshin author that got caught with CP)...

 

[Lightning Count]

And for the victims that don't want to "name and shame" because coming forward means inviting all sorts of harassment? Or risk ostracization from tight-knit dev communities because nobody wants to turn on the one asshole they all want to cozy up to?

This shit isn't easy to fix. People who endured these cases aren't given easy/obvious solutions here that don't also risk their jobs or well-being. We can support the ones that have come forward, but not everyone wants to advertise their trauma with a megaphone.

Click to shrink...

I agree there is no easy fix, those that come forward may choose to do so anonymously. The biggest change that needs to happen is for the industry to stop protecting predators and shitty people.

 

[Coen]

Beyond Good and Evil and the Rayman games.
Ancel was french Miyamoto and instead it turns out he's worse

Click to shrink...

Wait what? Goddammit, what did he do?

 

[Lightning Count]

Wait what? Goddammit, what did he do?

Click to shrink...

Report: Beyond Good & Evil 2 Director Michel Ancel Left Ubisoft Amid Investigation Into Complaints Of Toxic Leadership [Update]

Rayman creator, Beyond Good and Evil 2 director, and longtime Ubisoft veteran Michel Ancel retired from the video game publisher earlier this month while being investigated for toxic behavior, according to a new report by the French newspaper Libération.

kotaku.com

This article explains it pretty well, he was an abusive piece of shit to his staff. Pushed them to the point of burnout and depression.

 

[Damn Silly]

Beyond Good and Evil and the Rayman games.
Ancel was french Miyamoto and instead it turns out he's worse

Click to shrink...

Yeah, this was the one that came to mind immediately for me.

Luckily most of my favorites, nothing too bad has come out about that springs to mind - though I'm not so naive to believe nothing bad happened at any of them - but Ancel being a piece of work stung.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Koichi Sugiyama's my go-to example of this. He was a hateful old man had been phoning it in since the 2000s, but Dragon Quest games still meant a lot to me. Glad he's gone.

Similarly, Michiru Yamane has made the score of many of my all-time favourites, and absolutely still crushes it whenever she's asked to compose something. Unfortunately she's a conservative weirdo who's way off the deep end with shitty conspiracy theories.

Click to shrink...

Dragon quest series

Click to shrink...

Hopefully the series gradually cease to use his music in new games altogether

 

[eso76]

Off the top of my head

Notch?

Langdon. It sucks, but DMC can do without him.

Jeremy Soule hurts the most. His scores are a huge part of what made TES 3/5 the games they are.

Can't extend this to whole studios. I personally know awesome guys and girls who work for Ubisoft (and King etc) and it's probably the same everywhere.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Akiman (Akira Yasuda), the character designer of Street Fighter II, is a right-wing Trumper

So it seems noteworthy artist Akiman is right wing?

So this morning as I was checking my Twitter timeline, I come across one of Trump’s disputed tweets on my timeline. And who I see that made the retweet was Akira “Akiman” Yasuda, who is notable for his key artwork of past Capcom titles, including his SFII pieces. At first I didn’t want to...

www.resetera.com

 

[indosmoke]

This is the first time I've consciously boycotted a game. The grounded RPG approach was incredbiyl appealing, but when so much of Vavra's views and Gamergate affiliations came to light I just couldn't enjoy it in good conscience.

Click to shrink...

I'm not gonna lie I was completely absorbed by the "grounded" approach, I had never played an RPG like this and I was focused on all these little immersive details that felt amazing.

And then, when some lines of dialogue kicked in and it sounded/felt completely off (in the worst way), when the behavior/attitude of some NPCs stuck out like a sore thumb, I was reminded of the infamous lead writer. Tbh it didn't happen *that* often throughout the game, fortunately, but when it did... yeah that was embarrassing.

(mind you I didn't buy the game, I played and beat it while it was on Game Pass. And as much as I enjoyed it, I don't think I could ever put any money in it for these reasons)

 

[WyLD iNk]

Randy Pitchford is an issue, but I will always adore Borderlands, and Crazy Earl is one of my favorite characters in the whole series.

 

[Capra]

Chris Avellone

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Just a heads-up OP, but might want to check with mods to see whether this thread can stay open since this one was against tos

Games you were excited for, but then you learned how terrible the company/dev studio behind the game was

Though I never personally got into Overwatch, I remembered being interested in Overwatch 2. the last 2-3 years made it so that I associate Overwatch with terrible abuse—whatever enjoyment I'd get from the game would be outweighed by the constant reminder of how terrible blizzard apparently...

www.resetera.com

For the record, I think it should be open to discussion, especially if the terrible actions/practices in question are already public. Not everyone learns about this stuff even though they may want to know.

 

[Lightning Count]

Just a heads-up OP, but might want to check with mods to see whether this thread can stay open since this one was against tos

Games you were excited for, but then you learned how terrible the company/dev studio behind the game was

Though I never personally got into Overwatch, I remembered being interested in Overwatch 2. the last 2-3 years made it so that I associate Overwatch with terrible abuse—whatever enjoyment I'd get from the game would be outweighed by the constant reminder of how terrible blizzard apparently...

www.resetera.com

For the record, I think it should be open to discussion, especially if the terrible actions/practices in question are already public. Not everyone learns about this stuff even though they may want to know.

Click to shrink...

Interesting, it's up to the mods, if they lock the thread not much we can do about it.

Though personally I believe shutting down discussion about this is a bad idea, especially when allegations have gone public.

 

[Dervius]

I'm not gonna lie I was completely absorbed by the "grounded" approach, I had never played an RPG like this and I was focused on all these little immersive details that felt amazing.

And then, when some lines of dialogue kicked in and it sounded/felt completely off (in the worst way), when the behavior/attitude of some NPCs stuck out like a sore thumb, I was reminded of the infamous lead writer. Tbh it didn't happen *that* often throughout the game, fortunately, but when it did... yeah that was embarrassing.

(mind you I didn't buy the game, I played and beat it while it was on Game Pass. And as much as I enjoyed it, I don't think I could ever put any money in it for these reasons)

Click to shrink...

Not to get into the "seperate art from artist discussion", but games are made by scores of people who all elave their mark in differing ways. I think when you learn about someone senior who happens to hold particularly shitty views or has done shitty things you just lose the benefit of the doubt immediately. Things you might not have picked up on, or brushed aside now niggle away at you and diminish the experience.

At least, that's how it's worked for me.

Btw, not at all meaning to criticise you or anyone else who played or enjoyed the game.

 

[SofNascimento]

Probably all AAA games that I've played?

 

[Opposable]

I imagine the GTA games. I doubt you have so many trans jokes, homophobic and racist jokes from a team of likely hundreds of writers with at least some not seeing it as 'parody'

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Interesting, it's up to the mods, if they lock the thread not much we can do about it.

Though personally I believe shutting down discussion about this is a bad idea, especially when allegations have gone public.

Click to shrink...

On the other hand, this is still up on the EtcetEra side:

That crushing moment when a content creator reveals their shitty beliefs.

He's had quite a few bad takes and bigoted gamer moments, that have alienated him from some LGBTI and black folks. The problem with Vaush is he's a debate bro and that he thinks platforming debates with neo nazis helps things (when history shows it does the opposite and gets Nazis more fans)...

www.resetera.com

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Interesting, it's up to the mods, if they lock the thread not much we can do about it.

Though personally I believe shutting down discussion about this is a bad idea, especially when allegations have gone public.

Click to shrink...

I think you're good, as this one from the other day is open:

Media you love that’s made by scumbags?

Whether Shows, Books, Stand up, Albums, etc. it’s hard to remove them from your life when the stuff they made is a huge part of growimg up and such. Also if that person/people are not familiar like Micheal Jackson please add in why their scumbags. Mine is Father Ted and IT Crowd (especially...

www.resetera.com

 

[Lightning Count]

On the other hand, this is still up on the EtcetEra side:

That crushing moment when a content creator reveals their shitty beliefs.

He's had quite a few bad takes and bigoted gamer moments, that have alienated him from some LGBTI and black folks. The problem with Vaush is he's a debate bro and that he thinks platforming debates with neo nazis helps things (when history shows it does the opposite and gets Nazis more fans)...

www.resetera.com

Click to shrink...

That's my thread, I posted it about a month ago.

 

[Phediuk]

The Neverhood is a really cool game; too bad Doug Tennapel is a right-wing crank.

 

[Billfisto]

Earthworm Jim.

I loved EWJ as a kid, and I loved Doug TenNapel's art. Then I started looking into his other work, but it was weird, overtly Christian stuff, so I kinda bounced off. The fondness for EWJ was always there, though.

Now he's a raging TurboBigot. I still like the concept of Jim, but I won't buy anything TenNapel's involved with / financially profits from. Even standalone Jim is iffy.

Plus, it worries me that Mike Nelson was so involved with him, potentially souring another thing I love.

 

[Tfritz]

Koichi Sugiyama is dead and in hell so I can feel a little less guilty about stanning Dragon Quest

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

Probably all AAA games that I've played?

Click to shrink...

Not even just AAA.

I was saddened to learn about the miserable conditions at Fullbright, I love their games.

 

[Menchin]

Probably every game I've ever played and enjoyed was made by a studio with at least one person working there who was some flavour of shithead

 

[Serpens007]

Earthworm Jim.

I loved EWJ as a kid, and I loved Doug TenNapel's art. Then I started looking into his other work, but it was weird, overtly Christian stuff, so I kinda bounced off. The fondness for EWJ was always there, though.

Now he's a raging TurboBigot. I still like the concept of Jim, but I won't buy anything TenNapel's involved with / financially profits from. Even standalone Jim is iffy.

Plus, it worries me that Mike Nelson was so involved with him, potentially souring another thing I love.

Click to shrink...

Yep, this is it. Freaking love Earthworm Jim but the creator is such a piece of shiiiit

 

[ascagnel]

I haven't played it yet, but Ion Maiden/Ion Fury was looking like it was going to be a really cool retro-styled FPS. But the developers snuck in a few transphobic and homophobic bits into the game. They apologized, and promised they'd remove the stuff, and make a donation to the Trever Project, which is cool. And then they walked back the apology and doubled down on the homophobia and transphobia.

I never advocate piracy, but when you pride yourself on showing your whole-ass shitty behavior, I'll make an exception.

Ion Fury to retain homophobic content after all

https://steamcommunity.com/games/562860/announcements/detail/1616150570017627014 This is in after a previous statement that read: https://www.gameinformer.com/2019/08/19/after-transphobic-comments-spark-controversy-ion-fury-developers-apologize-for-employee New news, new thread. Sadly no...

www.resetera.com

 

[Cameron122]

Probably every major studio game but remember that kingdom come deliverance guy lol

 

[Host Samurai]

Earthworm Jim. That sucks man, I loved the series so much as a kid.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I love the Elder Scrolls games and Jeremy Soule's music is a big part of that. It turned out that he is a shitheel and will probably never work on ES again, but I still love the games and the music. It doesn't bother me one iota. When I listen I think: "This music is great!", not "The guy that wrote this is awful". I don't blame children of assholes for their parents' behavior unless the children also exhibit asshole behavior. Since music is incapable of doing that, I don't hold the music accountable. Since he was already paid, it's not like I'm supporting him by playing/listening either.