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Lat night, publisher Raw Fury announced an Xbox One port for Odd Tales’ gorgeous cyberpunk thriller, The Last Night. The developers behind the game, brothers Tim and Adrien Soret, are your no-nonsense, modern-thinking dudes who didn’t buy into the nonsense GamerGate had pointed out.
Now that their game is shaping up for its release, both game developers and gamers alike are trying to pursue a witch hunt against the developers because of their pro-GamerGate stance back in 2014.
The new witch hunt seems to have ironically begun with Chelsea Van Valkenburg (AKA Zoe Quinn), the “game activist” known for Depression Quest and speaking at the United Nations regarding “cyberviolence,” who isn’t happy with the game nor its developers.
Quinn is known as primary the catalyst for the infamous GamerGate campaign, which Tim Soret openly supported years ago. “People who blame art and entertainment for society’s ills are always on the wrong side of history,” he tweeted at the time – among other logical takes on modern culture.
“Lead dev of The Last Night is so GamerGate that that shits in the game along with Vivian James, GG’s anime waifu mascot,” Quinn wrote on Twitter. “Makers of cyberpunk game mad that people he prolly made up would want cyberpunk solutions to still work while pregnant.”
A Polygon writer named Rokashi Edwards also chimed in on the dogpiling, saying: “Can’t wait for Tim Soret to go into full damage control mode YEESH.”
It’s strange that in the midst of all this, none of the game’s detractors have taken the extra step to actually learn the game envisions a dystopian, cyberpunk future in which radical feminism has taken power.
Some of the responses to the game and Soret’s opinions were even more ridiculous, with an Ubisoft employee named Louis Gauthier saying he’ll pirate the game and seed it for other pirates – so the creators lose money.
“Well then I’m going to pirate and seed the shit out of The Last Night just so that dumbass gets no monies,” Gauthier said on Twitter.
The manufactured outrage became so widespread that the game’s publisher Raw Fury even issued a statement, somewhat distancing themselves from the game because of Soret’s opinions and beliefs.
“We at Raw Fury believe in equality, believe in feminism, and believe everyone has a right and chance at the equal pursuit of happiness,” the publisher said. “The wording of his statements toward feminism in 2014 was poor, and his buying into GamerGate as a movement on the notion that it represented gamers against journalists was naive, but in the same year he also cheered the rise of women in gaming.”
Outside of the bait and switch tactics seen by online crusaders, reception for the game has been very positive. How do you feel about Soret and his previous statements? Were you looking to pick up The Last Night before? Regardless, sound off in the comments below!