• Light/Dark

Ubisoft apologizes after controversial (and accidental?) Division 2 beta email

OrdinaryPrime

OrdinaryPrime

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,042
Winterreise said:
That's an amazingly good email headline and they should have leaned into it. I understand why they don't and won't touch the political side of things with this game, but I wish they leaned into it hard like Bethesda did with Wolf 2.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I am incredulous that anyone thinks they can make a game like they're trying to make and not touch political lines. Sure, don't "choose" a side or whatever, but please. There is plenty of things to unpack with the original game as it treats certain things like civil rights. I just shudder to think that they're trying not to piss off one segment or another, while simultaneously having a game like Assassin's Creed which gets loads of derision on places like Twitch for rightfully having a snippet of text talking about how the game was constructed by people of color, differing sexual orientations and gender identities. It's pathetic. You can't have it both ways Ubisoft.

Falconbox said:
Just because the game is set in DC this time doesn't make it any more or less political than the first game.

It's still just about a virus that killed a lot of the population and an agency trying to restore a little bit of civilization among groups that have used the incident as an opportunity to be violent gangs.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The first game is political though.
 
daybreak

daybreak

Member
Feb 28, 2018
2,426
OrdinaryPrime said:
I am incredulous that anyone thinks they can make a game like they're trying to make and not touch political lines. Sure, don't "choose" a side or whatever, but please. There is plenty of things to unpack with the original game as it treats certain things like civil rights. I just shudder to think that they're trying not to piss off one segment or another, while simultaneously having a game like Assassin's Creed which gets loads of derision on places like Twitch for rightfully having a snippet of text talking about how the game was constructed by people of color, differing sexual orientations and gender identities. It's pathetic. You can't have it both ways Ubisoft.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The simple answer is that they're trying to not piss off shareholders. Anger on Twitch doesn't do that, heavily politicizing games does. They're taking the easy PR route out by claiming they aren't making a political statement, which is why this immediate apology was made for the email subject line.
 
Driggonny

Driggonny

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,170
God that's terrible, I laughed >.>

I can see why they took it back and apologized. I wonder if this was an internal joke at the company that they forgot to change before sending it out or something.
 
OrdinaryPrime

OrdinaryPrime

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,042
graywolf323 said:
same, honestly outrage over this just seems silly to me
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I doubt there's any real outrage. Although trying to profit while some 800k government workers weren't getting paid is sort of shitty.

Winterreise said:
The simple answer is that they're trying to not piss off shareholders. Anger on Twitch doesn't do that, heavily politicizing games does. They're taking the easy PR route out by claiming they aren't making a political statement, which is why this immediate apology was made for the email subject line.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The thing is, corporations like Nike actually lean into social justice as a way to make more money. Which makes me cynical too. We shouldn't count on corporations to do anything but try to make money. When we ascribe positive social progress to them, they're going to disappoint us.
 
daybreak

daybreak

Member
Feb 28, 2018
2,426
OrdinaryPrime said:
The thing is, corporations like Nike actually lean into social justice as a way to make more money. Which makes me cynical too. We shouldn't count on corporations to do anything but try to make money. When we ascribe positive social progress to them, they're going to disappoint us.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I get what you're saying, but there's a pretty big difference between Nike making a statement in regards to Kapaernick and a game development company criticizing the US government.
 
Dick Justice

Dick Justice

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,542
Danteyke223 said:
As much as Ubisoft tries to be progressive, hip and just all around a inclusive. They seem to want to avoid shitting on right wingers and on a US government that is laughably inept. I sort of wonder if due to the current political US climate is one of the reasons we aint getting a new Splinter Cell game. The last two dealt with corruption within US right?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The older SC games were pretty restrained, primarily because of Michael Ironside's input on the Sam Fisher character. As soon as he left, it turned into complete jingoistic, right-wing garbage with Blacklist.
 
enkaisu

enkaisu

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,414
Pittsburgh
I think it's pretty funny but coming from Ubisoft who keep saying this game is apolitical makes me side eye them harder than usual.
 

Deleted member 9197

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
660
With the conservative bent of this game and anything from Tom Clancy in general, are you really surprised? The right, including those who make creative decisions for this franchise apparently, do not give a shit about the effect of the shut down on Americans.
 
JoeyJungle

JoeyJungle

Member
Oct 27, 2017
574
I bet someone meant to send this around the office as a joke and accidentally sent it to the entire listserv. lol

imagine you just went a month without pay and aren't getting backpay and this pops up in your inbox, I'd either laugh or be pissed as hell
 
Teamocil

Teamocil

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,169
I giggled.

I wasn't affected by the shut down, but I still think we should be able to laugh at bad things
 
OrdinaryPrime

OrdinaryPrime

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,042

teacup

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
686
I don't think they are being political with it they are making a joke at the expense of a lot of unfortunately affected people. And good on them for saying sorry.

This isn't a case where like "we thought it'd be good but now we are sorry" but actually it was super racist so actually why did they think it'd be good in the first place. This isn't offensive, it's just mean spirited and they probably didn't realise how it came across / it got approved before the right people saw it. I'd hesitate to go too far on this one. Ass creed DLC this is not.
 
SavoyPrime

SavoyPrime

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,180
North Carolina USA
giphy.gif

That was really stupid smh
 
jtb

jtb

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,066
I don't even understand why Ubi bothers slapping the Tom Clancy name on everything (Wildlands? The Division? why? who cares? create a new IP ffs) considering it means you have to slap a coat of reactionary/fascist fantasy paint over the game no matter what.
 
OrdinaryPrime

OrdinaryPrime

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,042
Falconbox said:
They also shoot you on sight.

And the Cleaners, while former sanitation workers, simply believe everything and everyone must be burned to get rid of the virus. Them being union really had nothing to do with the story.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

So the fact on loading screens it says things like "The purpose of The Division is to secure the city and ensure the continuity of government" means it's not political? Come on. And looters and union workers are definitely two groups that a particularly segment of the American population abhors.
 
SABO.

SABO.

Member
Nov 6, 2017
5,872
The open rate would have been insane.

I wonder if they A/B tested this and what the other subject line was lol
 
Laughing Banana

Laughing Banana

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,562
Bandung Indonesia
Joeku said:
Tom Clancy games are right-wing as hell, for as progressive the rest of their games seem to be. Even though the Doc Kandel (?) you recruit early on is a woman who has a wife (I remember a whole cutscene that effectively revealed that and that was the only information in it) that faux-progressive idea doesn't preclude these games from being gun-fan wankery. You are authorized to shoot looters who you in turn loot (alongside numerous electronics shops and mechanics). It's a goddamn mess. And Ghost Recon: Wildlands is even worse; maybe the most edgy, mean-spirited game I've played this decade.

The stupidity of placing Division 2 in DC whilst saying the game is apolitical is just...dumb as hell.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

There is a whole sidequest dedicated to Kandell and her wife in the Division, why they separated, the wife's final fate, etc etc.

Though yes, it doesn't really detract from your point that the Division, despite it being the "hero" of the game, is actually a really really nasty organization, when you think about it, haha.
 
Falconbox

Falconbox

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,600
Buffalo, NY
OrdinaryPrime said:
So the fact on loading screens it says things like "The purpose of The Division is to secure the city and ensure the continuity of government" means it's not political? Come on. And looters and union workers are definitely two groups that a particularly segment of the American population abhors.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

And one of the other enemy groups is a group another segment of the American population typically abhors.

The Last Man Battalion was hired by the 1%, Wall Street execs who wanted them to protect their assets. The game just came up with random groups of enemies that would fit logically into NYC.

And yeah, The Division's purpose is to return order and law to society. I don't see that as political. I see that as something a person would want in the face of a near apocalyptic event that crumbles the tenants of civilization.

The Division and the JTF go about it in a way that people here should like. By offering humanitarian aid through food and medicine, while saving defenseless citizens from violent crime.
 
Grimminski

Grimminski

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,193
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Falconbox said:
And one of the other enemy groups is a group another segment of the American population typically abhors.

The Last Man Battalion was hired by the 1%, Wall Street execs who wanted them to protect their assets. The game just came up with random groups of enemies that would fit logically into NYC.

And yeah, The Division's purpose is to return order and law to society. I don't see that as political. I see that as something a person would want in the face of a near apocalyptic event that crumbles the tenants of civilization.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Their job is to ensure the continuity of the US government by any and all means necessary. They're a hyper authoritarian organization, with no oversight and zero accountability.
 

Deleted member 3294

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,973
Not sure where the supposed outrage people in here are talking about, unless "ha that's kind of a messed up thing to joke about" is outrage.

And even if there was, I can get why this wouldn't be funny to people who were affected by the government shutdown (which would be a lot of people).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.