Ion Fury developer apologises for sexist, homophobic and transphobic language
The developer of the new old-school first person shooter, Ion Fury, has apologised after some of its staff were caught making sexist and transphobic comments online on top of homophobic language being discovered in game.
Eurogamer reports that Voidpoint came under fire over the weekend after ResetEra user Twenty5Thousand uncovered sexist and transphobic comments which were made by staff in Ion Fury’s official Discord.
Among numerous comments, one post by a developer whose screen name is “terminx” stood out:
“Something I don’t really understand about the social justice stuff is that they have stuff like the ‘slut walk’ which I thought was about the right to not be harassed for how they dress but then if you portray women dressed the same way you get shit for it.”
To make matters worse, the Voidpoint Twitter page initially stood by their developer by suggesting the Discord comments were taken out of context and had been Photoshopped:
Compounding the issue, homophobic language was then discovered in game by another ResetEra user, Flapjack21. They discovered a room accessed using a noclip cheat which displayed the word “fagbag”.
In other easily accessible rooms, there are also hand-soaps with the homophobic slur “ogay” written on them.
Eurogamer contacted publisher 3D Realms for comment and received the following statement:
“It has come to our attention Voidpoint, the developers of Ion Fury, have been accused of making transphobic and misogynistic statements. Under current leadership 3D Realms has taken pride empowering marginalized groups, as evident by our strong female protagonist Shelly ‘Bombshell’ Harrison and the makeup of our team. Moving forward all of 3D Realms’ contracts will include terms which would allow us to sever relationships if a contractor does not abide by our zero-tolerance policy for hate speech.”
Mike Nielsen, 3D Realms
Eurogamer also contacted Voidpoint co-founders Evan Ramos and Richard Gobeille for comment and received a statement apologising and promising mandatory sensitivity training for employees and staff. They also said Voidpoint would donate $10,000 from Ion Fury’s release day proceeds to The Trevor Project and would patch out any unacceptable language in the game.
“Members of Voidpoint’s Ion Fury team have made sexist and transphobic comments, and included homophobic language in Ion Fury. We recognise these statements are insensitive, unacceptable, and counterproductive to causes of equality. We unequivocally apologise both for these comments and language as well as for any pain they have caused the gaming community, particularly women and members of the LGBTQ community. We take full responsibility for any damage that has been done to the relationships we’ve worked so hard to build. Moving forward, Voidpoint will institute a zero-tolerance policy for this type of language and all employees and contractors will undergo mandatory sensitivity training. As part of our efforts to contribute to the work that must be done to further support these communities, we are donating $10,000 from Ion Fury’s release day proceeds to The Trevor Project. We are also patching Ion Fury ASAP to remove all unacceptable language.”
Evan Ramos and Richard Gobeille, Voidpoint
The fact that these behaviours and actions can go unchecked shows just how toxic the video game industry still remains, despite the efforts of a lot of people to help clean it up.
We acknowledge the apology, the promises and the donation to The Trevor Project, yet we remain sceptical given there has been no explanation on how the homophobic language made it into the game in the first. There has also been no detail on any disciplinary action that is being taken against the developers on the company’s Discord.
More must be done to ensure behaviours like this are erased from the industry as a whole. Acting to prevent these words and actions making it into games is not good enough. It’s more concerning that there are people like this still in the industry who are working alongside LGBTQ+ and other diverse people.
H/T Eurogamer
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