The developer of Ion Fury Backtracks states that he will not remove the gay joke because of "censorship"

At its output, Ion Fury seemed like a foolproof success. the Duc Nukem and Warrior of the shadowRetro inspired launched earlier this month for rave reviews, with many praising its bloody and voluminous mix of old and new. Shortly after, players discover homophobic content in the game and some begin to broadcast screenshots of transphobic and sexist comments made by its developers on Discord. Last week, the developer and publisher of the game apologized and said he would remove the homophobic content of the game. This week, the Ion Fury The team sings a different air.

Ion Fury The lead developer, Richard Gobeille, who goes under the pseudonym "Terminx" on Steam and who appears to have taken part in the Discord conversations criticizing "SJWs", feminists and transsexuals, has released a statement via his Steam account, described as being a "Joint Declaration of Voidpoint and 3D Realms."

"We will NOT be censored Ion Fury or any of our other games, now or in the future, including removing gags such as the most controversial face washing games, "the statement said.

The content of the game, which Voidpoint had described as homophobic in a statement to Eurogamer last week included shampoo bottles with the word "OGAY" on them, as well as a secret area containing the word "fagbag". This, next to the derogatory comments Discord of two Ion Fury The developers on trans people and women, had inspired the studio and the Realms 3D editor to react. In last week's statement, Voidpoint described the comments and content of the game as "insensitive, unacceptable and counterproductive for reasons of equality", stating that it would give the project $ 10,000 to LGBTQ anti-suicide nonprofit The Trevor Project and correct its content. out of the game. The Realms 3D publisher said that the content was "not approved by us" and that future contracts would allow the publisher to sever relationships with anyone who would not comply with its "zero tolerance policy on hate speech".

Since, Ion Fury has been pursued by negative critics, reducing his almost unanimously positive Steam score to "overall positive". The criticisms left over the past 30 days are on average "mixed". Recent negative reviews are raging – you guessed it – the developers gave in to "SJW" and "censorship".

"If I could pay for this game at this point, I would," we read in more than 400 negative reviews published last week. "It's because, despite the fact that it's a wonderful game and something I've been dreaming about since FPS all became generic"Call of DutyI will NEVER support a company that plunges under the tears of boo-hoo snowflakes, so oppressed. "

Steam's New Anti-Critical Bomb System (which assumes there was "off-topic review activity" and removes all critics during a given period of the game score) did not report this deluge of negativity . Some of these critics were technically related to the game's content, although no change was actually made to the game. Kotaku contacted Valve for more information, but did not receive a response.

Whatever the case may be, Voidpoint and 3D Realms seem to have heard the masses, outraged, outraged by outrage. 3D Realms has issued a separate statement to Kotaku in which he expressed his support for Voidpoint's decision to vigorously defend its joke about Olay, a shampoo brand that had a catchy advertisement once in the '90s, is gay.

"Jokes at the expense of marginalized communities will not be present in future games released by 3D Realms," said 3D Realms. "However, part of our community made it clear that removing 'Ogay' was censorship and should be protected by free speech. Voidpoint wanted to listen and we respected that decision. "

Realms noted, however, that the word "fagbag" had been added to Ion Fury "Without the approval of someone else", and Voidpoint removed him a few days ago. So the studio has In fact, modify some game content, even if 3D Realms insists that it is "inaccessible without hacking the game".

Despite the partial reversal of last week's severe and seemingly out-of-the-box statements, 3D Realms said that Voidpoint would always donate to The Trevor Project and train its employees in the old art of "sensitivity" to penitence. enterprises.

As for the game content, 3D Realms and Voidpoint now seem to regret sincerely regretting their previous actions.

"We do not support any censorship of creative works of any kind and regret our initial decision to change a sprite in the game rather than trust our instinct," said the two companies in a joint statement, via Richard "Terminx" Gobeille. "3D Realms and Voidpoint are united on this issue."