Lords of the Fallen studio CI Games says it is not going to combine “any social or political agendas” into its video games as a result of doing so, it claims, incurs a “excessive threat” of economic failure.
The assertion was made throughout a latest traders chat (by way of Strefa Inwestorów), throughout which CI Games was requested about its “stance on DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] in gaming.” In response, world advertising director Ryan Hill mentioned the studio priotizies “glorious consumer expertise with compelling thematics and characters created particularly for core and adjoining audiences,” after which rolled into what I might name a fairly ill-informed tackle the present state of the sport trade.
“While some videogames have lately taken the chance to embed social or political agendas inside their experiences, it’s clear that many gamers don’t recognize this, and in consequence, we now have seen numerous excessive profile releases underperforming commercially over the last 12 months alone,” Hill mentioned. “Our video games will all the time be developed to maximise participant enjoyment and business success, and as such, we is not going to be integrating any social or political companies into these experiences going ahead having noticed the excessive threat this could current.”
Hill did not clarify how precisely he or CI Games defines DEI, which has turn into shorthand slang for “issues I do not like” amongst some elements of videogame fandom, nor did he supply any examples of video games that failed because of their “social or political agendas.” Concord and Dustborn are generally held up as examples of such, however the actuality is that they are simply two of actually hundreds of video games—19,000 new video games on Steam alone in 2024—that failed to search out an viewers over the previous 12 months. And within the case of Concord specifically, it arguably simply wasn’t an excellent sport—we gave it a forty five% in our assessment, and never as a result of we did not assume the solid was white sufficient
He did, sadly, lend credence to the ugly and patently false assertion that DEI is ruining gaming by—properly, that is not likely clear both. But that nearly does not matter: As a hot-button buzzword amongst indignant, reactionary avid gamers, the DEI boogeyman does not want a definition, it simply must fire up lizard mind feelings on the best way to producing views.
Hill’s feedback stand in sharp distinction to these expressed by one other Polish studio, Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt: On its range and inclusion web page, which does the truth is outline the studio’s method to DEI intimately, CEO Adam Kiciński says “a range of views unlocks creativity and will increase innovation.”
CI Games declined to touch upon Hill’s assertion.
