Two weeks ago, we learned that Arrowhead boss and Helldivers II creator Johan Pilestedt doesn’t think “diversity, equity and inclusion” (often abbreviated to DEI) is particularly important.
Instead, he believes that the focus should be on making good games, and wrote the following on social media: “Make good games, don’t make a contemporary political statement.”
For a long time, this topic has been a hot potato in the gaming world, and several developers and publishers have recently distanced themselves from the concept in various ways. Now we get a new proof of that from Insider Gaming who reports that Lords of the Fallen publisher CI Games says (via a meeting with the investors, transcribed by Strefa Inwestorów) that it’s something many gamers don’t want, and they will therefore not have any political agendas in their titles:
“While some videogames have recently taken the opportunity to embed social or political agendas within their experiences, it is clear that many players do not appreciate this, and as a result, we have seen a number of high profile releases underperforming commercially during the last year alone.
“Our games will always be developed to maximise player enjoyment and commercial success, and as such, we will not be integrating any social or political agencies into these experiences going forward having observed the high risk this can present.”
CI Games CEO Marek Tyminski himself clarified on social media afterwards that this is the way forward, as if to really set an example.
What do you think about it yourself? It is often argued that it leads to game creators not making the games they would like to make because they risk criticism and review bombing. On the other hand, there is of course the risk that those who want to create a game with, for example, an alternative protagonist, do not dare because of the backlash it often leads to, and thus use different paths than the original idea.