Prisoner-Survival Game “Scum” Removes Nazi Tattoo From Character Customization

Devolver Digital and Gamepires have made the decision to remove certain tattoos with Nazi imagry for character creation their recently launched game Scum.

The game, which has been selling very well since launch, premise was a reality show that forced prisoners to fight for survival. While the game is in early access, a $9.99 Scum Supporter Pack gave players extra character customization options.

One of these drew the ire of some players, a tattoo that has a skull covering the entire face also had tattoos on the back of the head. Some of these tattoos featuring an iron cross with a skull, and the numbers 14 and 88.

Those numbers (sometimes written together as 1488) are prominent in Neo-Nazi groups, especially with real life prisons, where gangs often get tattoos to show who they are aligned with.

The tattoo was modified to remove those tattoos from the design. In addition, a tattoo of a scorpion has been removed from the side of the head and A.C.A.B has been removed from the base of the neck. A.C.A.B. is an anti-police phrase meaning “All Cops Are Bastards”.

Polygon published the image of the tattoos after the update (the comparison which can be seen above). They also note the update to the tattoo was not included on any recent patch notes to the game’s most recent updates, nor their social media. Devolver Digital published a statement to Polygon, stating:

Devolver Digital has become aware of tattoos representing neo-Nazi symbology in the newly released prison survival simulation game Scum. We do not agree with use of this symbology or any hateful content, regardless of intention.

The use of the tattoo was intended to assist in portraying a realistic element of prison culture and the horrid elements within it. This content has been patched out as of this morning, and Devolver Digital are currently conducting a full review of all assets and content in the game with Gamepires. We strongly condemn any and all use of hateful symbology in our games and agree it should have never been in the game regardless of creative intent or realism. Devolver Digital apologizes unreservedly.

At a later date the developers Gamepires also offered their statement to Polygon:

Recently we patched out content from Scum that included neo-Nazi symbols. Our intention was to create an atmosphere of the worst of the worst criminals in Scum, and to portray the horrible type of people who would find themselves in a “fight to the death” situation for a futuristic reality show where the worst criminals are pitted against one another.

Since our initial response on our forums we’ve discussed this as a team and with our publisher and agree wholeheartedly that this content was unnecessary, should not have been included, and have removed it. We apologize for this misstep and promise to our fans that we will take more caution in our approach moving forward.

In related news, Germany has recently removed its ban on showing Nazi imagery from video games sold in the country. This was due to the USK deeming video games protected the same way art and items for historical research are.

Scum is currently in Early Access on Steam, for Windows PC. A full release date has not been announced at this time.

About Ryan Pearson