Whelp, someone is getting fired over this: THQ Nordic, a prominent video game publisher, has issued a public apology after hosting an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on notorious troll board 8chan. PR & Marketing director Philipp Brock made the apology over several tweets, writing “I personally agreed to this AMA without doing my proper due diligence to understand the history and the controversy of the site. I do not condone child pornography, white supremacy, or racism in any shape or form.”
(…) I am terribly sorry for the short-sightedness of my (!) decision, and promise to be far more vigorous in my assessment of these activities in the future. (…)
— THQNordic (@THQNordic) February 26, 2019
This was not about being edgy, this blew up and I very much regret to have done it in the first place.”
Philipp Brock, PR & Marketing Director THQ Nordic GmbH (Vienna, Austria)
— THQNordic (@THQNordic) February 26, 2019
The backlash began just a few hours ago, when THQ Nordic announced their AMA:
the opportunity was here and we took it, we got apporached in a very friendly and polite manner and were assured, said person (shoutout to Mark) will take care of the nasty stuff. so, here we are.
— THQNordic (@THQNordic) February 26, 2019
“We have no idea why” is an interesting defense for posting on 8chan, an imageboard website that’s an offshoot of the popular 4chan. Who uses 8chan, you might ask? Everyone considered too extreme or disturbing for 4chan, which is the lowest of low bars. That includes (but is not limited to) Gamergate harassment, child abuse, child pornography, swatting, doxxing, QAnon, racism, homophobia, and pro-nazi content. If it’s abhorrent and hate-filled, you’re likely to find it on 8chan.
All of this begs the question: why would a major gaming company, one that owns several game franchises like Darksiders, Timesplitters, Kingdoms of Amalur, Red Faction and more, host an AMA on a site that Google blacklisted in 2015 for child abuse?
While THQ Nordic claims not to have known about 8chan’s toxic bent (which stretches belief that a gaming company would be so oblivious) but they willfully bantered with 8channers, as seen in the tweets below:
— Patrick Klepek (@patrickklepek) February 26, 2019
Even more disturbing responses from THQ Nordic appeared on Ars Technica, which shared the following exchanges:
“Another fan asked about the publisher’s long-dormant Destroy All Humans franchise, and THQ Nordic responded by saying, “We work it like an alien prostitute.” And when one 8chan user posted an image of a medieval knight that was captioned, “cease all f____,” which used a homophobic slur, THQ Nordic responded by saying, “That could be from one of our upcoming games.”
All of this is pretty damning, especially when you consider that several of THQ Nordic’s games are made for children, like Rush: A Disney Pixar Game, Zoo Tycoon, Super Lucky’s Tale and Disney Adventures, to name a few. A children’s gaming company promoting itself on a known haven for child abuseres?
Yikes doesn’t even begin to cover it.
(via Variety, image: THQ Nordic)
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