Narrative lead at Remedy calls Gamers bigots?

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*deep sigh* Before I even kick this OP post off I want to make a confession. You see, I´ve seen more attacks on Gaming, games and gamers for the last couple of weeks than I´ve seen for months. So I can´t keep quiet about it any longer. That´s also why I´m going to drop quite a few OP posts in the near future on the matter. However, as for here and now. It´s all about Remedy Entertainment and its Narrative lead Mikko Rautalahti. First and for most, I want to point out that I´ve been a fan of Remedy´s for years. In the matter of fact, I´ve been a loyal fan of their´s since the good ol´Max Payne 1 days. Any ways, let´s get back on topic again shall we? As I was saying. I have to admit that I got somewhat shaken by what Mikko Rautalahti (Narrative lead at Remedy Entertainment) tweeted out to Tauriq Moosa (writer for Guardian, Daily Beast, Polygon and The Mary Sue to name a few), because once again it´s a games industry person who appears to have taken a swing at the very same industry and consumers whom he works for (as seen in the picture down below).

You know. It might just have something to do with the fact that Gamers, Gaming and games have been under attack by MSM and sites such as Polygon, Gamasutra and Kotaku for years…(“Gamers are dead” anyone?).

Here´s another fun fact, Tauriq Moosa has blocked us (TGG) on Twitter (I have never talked to him before)…And he also dislikes white people a whole lot.

I mean, I just don´t get it. Why would you even want to attack your own consumers and fans? That makes no sense at all to me (especially not from a business perspective), because all I see in my mind is “Remedy Games Vs Gamers” (pretty much). Furthermore, every industry and fanbase has its own fair share of bad people. Nevertheless, it´s just wrong to paint every single Gamer as a “bigot”, because that´s not the truth at all (just check all the charity work that Athene has done in the past, for example). I also couldn´t help to notice that Mikko´s twitter feed is full of political statements. So I´m surprised that he hasn´t made a separate Twitter account for that (it´s always a good idea to separate your personal views from the company that you work for)…Because right now it looks like Remedy Entertainment shares Mikko´s views on whatever he tweets out.

“Gamers aren’t a hive mind”, correct. I mean, just take a look at our staff list. We got people on our team from all sorts of backgrounds and races.

It´s a really cleaver business move for sure to attack your own consumer and fanbase. Let´s just say that I hardly doubt that this little “incident” will help Remedy Games to sell more games in the future.

So, all in all, I´m not surprised to see that Gamers are pretty upset and angry over what Mikko Rautalahti (and Tauriq Moosa) tweeted out. So much so that people are now starting to state that they won´t buy any of Remedy Games future (or past) titles, and as you might already know. That´s just about the last thing that Remedy needs right now, because “Quantum Break” did not sell all that well…Quite frankly, all of this made me wonder what the games industry has come to (I have no memories of any “incidents” of this kind from 90s and early 2000s). Other than that, I´m not quite sure whether or not I will be able to continue to show my support to Remedy after what Rautalahti said. Because I´m not going to support a game company that attacks Gamers and Gaming like this.

“Max Payne” was the game that made me fall in love with Finland and Remedy Entertainment (I can still remember the awesome review that PC Gamer Sweden wrote for the game).

I mean, just take me. I´ve been dreaming about working in the games industry since I was a little kid. I love games, Gaming and to talk to other Gamers (I do my very best to answer every single comment that we get on our homepage). So for me, it´s nothing less than unthinkable for us (TGG) to attack our own fans and audience, because we wouldn´t even exist without your support (a big thank you for helping us reach this far!). Simply put, I/we will continue to work really hard to improve our site and everything that we do. We (TGG) will also continue to defend Gamers, Gaming and games in the future. As it´s what makes us tick (I still get manly tears in my eyes when I hear Little big Adventure´s lead theme), and before I wrap this OP post up I just got one more thing to add. Because I saw this topnotch tweet by a Twitter user called Alter Ego where he or she made a truly good point about what Mikko Rautalahti said (I find it to be 100% spot-on):

“I tie my identity to my creativity and the freedom to express that creativity. If attacked, I will defend it. Criticism is constructive. Attacks are not. Gamers know the difference. They’re not even fooling themselves.” – alter ego

And with that said, what´s your take on this matter? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!

Credit:
Benjus Maximus

Source:
Mikko Rautalahti
Tauriq Moosa

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.

Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround