Just when you thought the games industry couldn’t possibly get any dumber, THQ Nordic hosted an AMA (or Ask Me Anything) on infamous website 8chan. For those of you who don’t know, the site’s “infamous” because it’s been delisted by Google due to its suspected inclusion of child pornography and all sorts of other shady content. Basically, it’s the kind of forum that no sane company would ever want to be associated with.
But THQ Nordic apparently thought this was a good idea! As you’d expect, the organisation was underfire within minutes of it announcing the Q&A, and for once the outrage may have been justified. Mere hours later, Philipp Brock – who’s the firm’s PR and marketing director – commented on the situation, saying that he “personally agreed” to the session “without doing my proper due diligence to understand the history and the controversy of the site”. Hmm.
“I do not condone child pornography, white supremacy, or racism in any shape or form,” he wrote on the company’s official Twitter account. “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. This was not about being edgy, this blew up and I very much regret to have done it in the first place.”
While that should have been an end to the whole sorry saga, people have inevitably been digging through THQ Nordic’s comments in the AMA itself, and it makes for some unsavoury reading. It talked about “working it like an alien prostitute” when asked about the Destroy All Humans franchise and even mentioned that a homophobic slur “could be from one of our upcoming games”. Not exactly a great look, we’re sure you’ll agree.
From our perspective, this has to be one of the dumbest things we’ve ever seen – and the games industry is doing stupid stuff all the bloody time. You only need to read 8chan’s Wikipedia page to see what it’s all about – it’s unfathomable to us that no one at THQ Nordic realised what it was getting into. And when you consider how the publisher’s been on the ascent lately with decent games and some exciting acquisitions, this can only be seen as a smear against its reputation.
Truly asinine.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 72
The games industry is notorious for incompetence, but I've never seen reputation suicide quite as bad as this before. Absolutely bonkers!
"Shall I prepare the guest room for Mr Cock Up"?
What a great way to alienate decent human beings. Unless their target audience is human detritus, I don't exactly see this as a great business move.
I saw this as I left work after a 9 hour shift.
I wanted to immediately go back to work. The outside world is freaking asinine.
Like ohhhh my lord you cannot be that dumb.
That's a big yikes boys. I've met some dumb sons of patriots in my time but you dont follow up "MASSIVE INVESTMENT AND ACQUISITIONS TO COME PLEASE INVEST IN US AND OUR 77 GAMES IN DEVELOPMENT!!!" with "Lets do an AMA on a notorious website for illegal activity and play into it"
SOMEONE is losing their job, no bones about that.
Imagine being one of the devs they've acquired tonight.
@get2sammyb I imagine they'd rather sink of their own financial insecurity than drown in a boat full of cash that just smacked into an iceberg. At least they can own it as their own fault.
Like this....reeks of a company getting too big too fast. This train had to end eventually, and like all massive companies, it ends in a PR disaster.
It was also kind of inevitable after "Huge investment" and "We are making 77 games".
I just didn't think it would be like that.
Now we ask, who will be the next to drive the THQ name off a cliff?
Dumb mistakes happen all the time. Not that big a deal imo.
Could say that he went to the Darksiders of the web
Gr8 chance of bring fired tomorrow.
The mind boggles, I understand posting comments is fun on Pushsquare where the moderation is to keep the conversation clean and on subject. Yet I struggle to understand why Reddit and other such sites are so popular the comments just disintegrate into absolute BS.
@themcnoisy Impossible to moderate. Same problem YouTube has. The number of comments per second outweighs the human capacity within the companies.
Pretty dumb, but highly unlikely to have any lasting consequences. I'd be willing to bet 98% of people have never even been to a chan site, or know what they're all about.
It's like they see the crazy stuff Devolver Digital does and thinks "Let's take it to, not 11, but 21 and see what happens."
Well, we are talking about the same company that has bought IP’s that they can literally do nothing with. Logic and common sense is not their strong suit.
Thanks for covering this, seen it all day on twitter, had no idea what was going on.
I'm gonna go w/ nothing happens b/c we live in a world where there is no responsibility and nothing ever happens. Well sometimes, but usually to the wrong people for the wrong reasons.
Not that I'm too sure anything should happen in this instance, could have been an honest mistake. I follow a lot of game news myself - I'm sure you're all sick of me - and I had no idea what 8ch was or is. Though it's probably the guys job to know, so he probably needs to go.
@themcnoisy because any moderation would be seen as "CENSORSHIP!!!!!!11" and they'd lose 80% of their users.
This is the moment of weakness Microsoft has been waiting for.
Should've researched the website. Although I really don't see the point in doing an AMA anywhere but a company's own website anyway. Maybe if Game Informer or a big, well-known outlet comes to you and offers some money but other than that, if I were running stuff like this, I'd keep it contained to my own company's website or social media feeds.
I mean, they own Destroy All Humans right? Sounds like something a place like 8chan would be into.
Yikes! This is just bad no matter how you look at it. What a bone headed thing to do
Google should be looked at the same way for the past & present shenanigans , the audacity at this outrage...
@rjejr The article states that THQ Nordic’s account made unsavoury comments including the use of a homophobic slur during the AMA. No matter the context, there’s no way I, or others within the LGBT+ community, could give money to a company that would openly use slurs like that. There needs to be an apology, and quickly. Yeah, the 8ch deal could have been an honest mistake, but those comments are not the sort that a company should be making.
Just the latest outrage of the week from the blue check mark SJW converged game "journalists". The rest of us don't care or never heard of 8chan. Yawn.
@nessisonett Interesting, so you won't buy games from a company if they openly use slurs? So if it's behind closed doors and you don't hear them it's ok to buy from them? Such an odd, odd statement.
As I recall, 8chan was practically ground zero for the cultivation of movements like Gamergate and QAnon. And some giant gaming publisher did an AMA THERE? That's delightful.
"It talked about “working it like an alien prostitute” when asked about the Destroy All Humans franchise..."
LOL!
Someone's getting fired.
This is too good. I'm dying.
@WCB Because being against child pornography and racism is definitely being an outraged SJW, right fellow gamer???
smh
Admittedly I have no idea what 8chan is but I've been around the internet long enough to know to avoid anything ending with "chan".
I image search on 8chan on bing (since google censored it), what's on there is dark web stuff, what the hell are thq thinking making AMA there?? Just make AMA on reddit like normal people!!
8chan itself is not a "racist" or whatever site, it's a platform in the vein of reddit - just with more freedom and more anonymous. Everybody can make it's own board (like subreddit) and moderate it himself. And it's not like they endorse illegal content - when they decect some they delete and ban it immediately. And you also have to remember that you are not the navel of the world - some things that are illegal in the United Kingdom are truly legal in other countries and vice versa (i'm not speaking about child pornography here). Google is a private company and has right to delist every company and site if they like regardless of the law, even Pushsquare or Nintendo Lifestyle.
Also some of the indie developers already did AMA on 8chan and there was no outrage as I remember.
@Ralizah What's wrong with alien prostitutes "slur"? Last time I checked aliens officially didn't exist, so you could abuse "them" freely, because well, there were no real aliens...
8chan is also on the internet, if guilty by association is true should any of us even be here? It was a mistake plain and simple. I will judge THQ by its internal actions and its software. Not a door they entered not knowing whats inside.
@nessisonett "No matter the context"
Well I'll have to disagree with you there. I'm a big believer in context, and also in intent. I grew up watching All in the Family, and Archie Bunker was renowned the world over for being one of the biggest homophobic racist bigots ever, but the show used that to get a message across about how bad all of that was.
And since we don't have any context here, it's hard for me to make a judgement call. Heck as far as the homophobic slur goes we don't even know WHAT was said much less the context. So while you're probably right, it was probably bad and somebody probably owes someone an apology, well that's a lot of probablys before I go black listing an entire company for the probable mistakes of a few.
One thing I've learned recently in life, maybe the past 15 years or so, is that everybody makes mistakes, and if you are going to turn your back on everyone who makes even 1 mistake, you are going to find yourself very much alone. So given that everyone does make mistakes I now look at how they respond to those mistakes. If they deny or make excuses, I'm done, if they apologize sincerely, I give a second chance. Not too big on third chances though, maybe in another 15 years or so when I run out of people to turn my back on. I mean what's the whole point of people "learning from their mistakes" if we are going to condemn them after the first one?
Good luck. And don't listen to me, do what you gotta do. I'm just explaining myself, not trying to convince anyone else of anything, not my job.
@rjejr i agree, im going to use pushsquare as a example. Sorry! But if this kind of stuff would be posted on this site it would be took down fast. But one could say it was still posted here. Now i have no idea of the circumstances so im not judging either way. Should guy done his homework? Yes. But thats one guy not the entire company.
I like archie bunker also.
Definite oopsie, but sounds more like total incompetence than anything sinister, and THQ Nordic apologised soon after being alerted to it, so that should be the end of it, but the blue checkmarked (supposedly games) journalists of certain other sites will probably be dining out on this delicious outrage feast for weeks, which usually tends to just end up being more hate levelled at hatred, except one of those hates is ok (excuse poor grammar!); haha, that kind of vom-fest is why I don't have Twitter! As for the slurs, the alien pros*** thing sounds more bad taste than offensive, as it's not like they're talking about a being with realistic anatomy, and re the homophobic slur, then I googled it and it seems as though the employee was responding to the picture rather than the slur which was captioned it (it was about the picture, not the word presumably?) Obvs what they should've done was disavowed and said "this isn't appropriate language on our AMA", reported them to the mod, and refused to answer any more of their posts, but aside from reprimanding them for not doing that and them issuing a proper apology, then I don't think they deserve to be fired for it, unless they turn out to be a homophobia sympathiser themself I mean.
I really thought this was just some crazy publicity stunt & it seems to have worked.
Otherwise they would’ve just cancelled it immediately after the blowback became apparent.
No one is going to care about a random AMA 6 months from now.
Wait why is it okay to do AMA's on reddit where they've had issues with child porn but not okay to do on 8chan where they've had issues with child porn?
Shouldn't both be treated the same since all content is contributed by users?
@nessisonett I’m gay. If THQ Nordic release a game I want to play, I’ll buy it.
It's crazy to me that THQ Nordic ever wanted to invest time in an AMA(lur) on a website that can't be found with Google. Regardless of ethics, that's just so dumb.
Anyone know the difference between 8chan and 4chan? (And what they actually are)
I’ve heard of both but never used either. And kinda don’t want to.
@Neolit It's just the way he put it is a very strange way to boycott, because let's be real here, some kind of negative attitude and talk goes on behind closed doors at every single company, gaming or not.
Of course he's free to boycott based on whatever he wants, but claiming others will follow the same path is just odd. I could show these statements to any of my friends LBGT, and they'd most likely respond with "wow, the world is a sh***y place, what a surprise." Not a single one would boycott.
The only question i can ask is people srsly think there is cp on 8 chan lmfaoooooo.
Child porn accusations or not, I'm generally hard-pressed to conceive a worthwhile reason to deal with an imageboard to begin with, especially on PR levels. I thought "public relations" were about relations with the public, not with the legion of inner demons that ODE brings out in said public. And trying to mimic the speech and attitudes of such places is one of the least funny "how do you do, fellow kids" scenarios I can imagine.
I'm certainly not one to base my interactive fiction purchases on such "controversies" either (I play games, not public relations), and it's their own business (no pun intended) in general, but I can't deny being kinda glad that THQ folks are reporting a lesson learned here.
Of course everybody is having a hissy fit, it's on Twitter.
@rjejr The problem is that the company have only apologised for doing the AMA in the first place, there’s been no apology for the actual answers given by the official company representative. They think that the main reason people are upset is that 8ch has links to racist groups and child porn. Also, being brazen enough to condone homophobia and ‘anti-sjw’ sentiment when their username has an official THQ tag is stupid beyond all measures. I would very much like to forgive THQ but the longer they take to actually apologise for what they have said, the less likely I’ll be to forgive them.
I couldn't care less and neither will anyone else when THQ announce and release new games....
@jacobia same here.
@nessisonett but do apologies really mean anything? I think the best apology is to never do it again.
@nessisonett
I think the person who had this bright idea should be moved to another post in the company because they are clearly incompetent but other than that its blowing things out of proportion.
How many studios are behind THQ now?
They have nothing to do with someone clearly forgetting to use their brain.
Also, of course, this is getting used for all sort of agendas now predictably. People trying to get attention on twitter and all media
8chan is a ****hole but I still fail to see why THQ Nordic should get hounded for this. Reddit used to be a pedophile camp as well before they cleaned house to make it advertiser/business friendly.
I assume that THQ Nordic held this "AMA" in some kind of gaming board rather than a pedophile forum? If so it seems like a lot of outrage over nothing. Still, weird venue to pick.
Please mind the language - Quintumply
It’s refreshing to see the comments here be somewhat levelheaded.
That kind of thinking could get you banned on other ‘open forums’ elsewhere.
@nessisonett "The article states that THQ Nordic’s account made unsavoury comments including the use of a homophobic slur during the AMA. No matter the context, there’s no way I, or others within the LGBT+ community, could give money to a company that would openly use slurs like that. There needs to be an apology"
I would research what exactly has been said before demanding an apology, instead of just relying on hearsay.
Quite surprised at the reaction here. I agree that this won’t (and shouldn’t) affect sales of THQ’s games, but it’s so boneheaded it beggars belief. I still can’t believe they did this.
This just staggeringly stupid. Couldn't believe what I was reading when I saw the headlines this morning! Heads will roll, surely? There's PR disasters and then there's this, shining like a great blazing ball of fire in the sky above the rest of them. Unbelievable.
@rjejr this is spot on.... the world took a wrong turn when “no matter the context” became a thing...
It’s a fad that will pass. People will learn not to judge someone on a tweet or a few words on the internet and ruin their life...
Even worse is that people let a few words on the internet without context ruin their life and bother them.
@get2sammyb Not getting the bandwagoning shi*flinging contest you were hoping for? I'm not arguing that this wasn't a poor decision from THQ Nordic, but your sensationalist, inflammatory article is really bad as well.
@Happyposter Not at all, just surprised people can't see how stupid this is. Because it's really stupid.
When have we ever been the kind of site that promotes mudslinging and outrage culture? We actively avoid it.
@get2sammyb
?
Most people here, and about everywhere are saying it was dumb.
They just diverge in how to overreact or not
@JJ2 It sounded like @Happyposter was making out like the article was baiting outrage, when I think it was completely fair.
@get2sammyb
Agreed. That s on the reaction part. The article was spot on imho
@get2sammyb The article was fair - you've nothing to feel bad about. It's just a polarising topic is all, but that's not on you as you reported the news fairly imo, and your job is to keep the Pushsquare site profitable afterall!
To be honest, had it been a company I cared about, I'd probably have followed the AMA in the same vein of innocence which led to it being authorised. This is the first time I've ever heard of 8chan or its content.
@Stocksy "It’s a fad that will pass."
Man I hope so. I just got off the phone w/ my mom who was practically hysterical b/c "that crazy girl Cortez" wants to kill all the cows. I tried to talk her down but thankfully she changed the subject.
But I don't think the fad will pass as long as we have twitter and Facebook. May take a worldwide EMP to sort this mess out. 😛
@nessisonett Have you considered the possibility that they won't apologize b/c they are racist homophobes? That seems to be a thing whenever the workforce is composed mainly of adult males, and not every company is going to run a Gillete "the best a man can get" ad. Though I suppose you have considered it if you are considering boycotting the company.
@ellsworth004 "But one could say it was still posted here."
Nice example. Especially in lieu of some of the nasty comments I had in my inbox last week. Been on NL and PS for 10 years, and I've had my fair share of arguments and disagreements, but nothing like that.
@rjejr I guess it’s a possibility that they are just filled with terrible people. It does feel like there’s a lot of people letting their fans down on a daily basis now but if the ones responsible are fired and THQ root out any of that sentiment, I’ll rethink any sort of boycott.
iirc correctly the whole child porn thing was bait, the guys who reported on it being on the site were the ones who were spamming it in the first place.
Oh and of course none of these articles about this mention anything about the 'lovely people' on ResetEra trying to dox THQ employees in response. Because this industry just loves that hivemind.
@MistressTonberry Like this response its so levelheaded. 👍
@WCB I cant take the meme SJW serious anymore its overused and even more used too cover up racism, being abusive towards women and everything else just to get a point across even if its nasty.
@nessisonett "a lot of people letting their fans down"
The Republican party let down half a country yesterday, possibly 2/3, but I'm not holding my breath for an apology. 😛
THQ did apologize on twitter on Tuesday for hosting the AMA on 8chan, I don't think they'll bring it up again to comment, or apologize, on anything else that was said.
@get2sammyb
"When have we ever been the kind of site that promotes mudslinging and outrage culture? We actively avoid it."
Not so sure about that. The clickbait titles and the constant bashing of certain games (e.g. Fallout 76) haven't been the site's proudest moments.
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