Red Thread Games’ adventure/rhythm/action game Dustborn has been out for a week and a half now, and it’s spent most of that time at the center of culture war bullshit. The game certainly has some problems we laid out in our review, but if you search the game on Google right now and look at the user reviews, you’ll see plenty of user reviews complaining not about any legitimate gameplay or design gripes but instead about the “woke mind virus” and a bunch of other buzzwords used to complain when people of color, queer folks, and overtly leftist politics are expressed in media. After 10 days of this infecting the game’s community and the online conversation around it, Red Thread Games has released a statement condemning hate speech and harassment.
The statement was posted to the company’s social media accounts, expressing that the game’s story was “deeply meaningful” to the team, and while it was prepared for the game to be divisive, it is pushing back against targeted harassment directed at the creators since Dustborn’s launch.
“We expected Dustborn to spark conversation and debate, and looked forward to engaging with our players in a positive and constructive fashion. Unfortunately, that conversation has been drowned out by a tidal wave of hate and abuse.
We welcome thoughtful feedback and respectful criticism. We embrace discussion and debate. But we have zero tolerance for hate speech, harassment, and threats of any kind. Those who engage in such behavior will be removed from our community.”
Dustborn publisher Quantic Dream put out its own statement in support of Red Thread Games, saying it stands with the developer against “hate in all its forms.” While the studio closed comments on the post, some of the quote tweets are spouting the kind of vitriol you’d expect, such as saying the team deserved the harassment for the game they put out, or pointing out the game’s low Steam concurrents. But others have been supportive, saying that these types of statements shouldn’t even have to exist.
When I played through Dustborn, I felt a deep sense of dread because I knew it was inevitable this game would receive this type of ire. It features a mostly POC cast, includes queer people, and isn’t subtle about its politics. There’s no plausible deniability here of the sort that some other video game companies try to conjure when pressed about a game’s political themes, as its story, set in a dystopian, alt-history America, explicitly explores the concept of a country’s descent into fascism and the ways it affects marginalized people. It’s always “Stop making my games woke and make your own!” until someone actually does it. Then these people find a new reason to harass developers who made a game they weren’t the target audience for. The goalpost moves once again.