Ion Fury developer Voidpoint has backed out of a promise to remove homophobic content from the game. After criticism over both content and the reveal of transphobic messages from Ion Fury’s creators, the developer had stated that it would both remove the content in question and donate $10,000 to the Trevor Project charity. Now, the update to the game has been cancelled.
Voidpoint has had a difficult time with its FPS throwback. Initially the game broke headlines due to the studio and publisher 3D Realms being sued by heavy metal legends Iron Maiden due to similarities with the game’s initial title of Ion Maiden. Voidpoint caved at that point, resulting in the name change, but the most recent criticism of the title has proved a much more worrying talking point.
After it was revealed that the game included a spoof of Olay called “OGAY” and hidden areas that contained the words “f*g bag,” at first Voidpoint promised to update the game to remove the content. However, the studio has now released a joint statement with 3D Realms on Steam rescinding this. “We do not support censorship of creative works of any kind and regret our initial decision to alter a sprite in the game instead of trusting our instincts,” read the statement. “3D Realms and Voidpoint stand together on this matter.”
Some might be wondering why this was not the initial message from the studio, rather than first stating it would be making changes. The answer may be tied to the fact that Ion Fury has been targeted with a review bombing campaign from people unhappy that Voidpoint was going to honor its promise. An updated statement from 3D Realms to Polygon confirmed that “a portion of our community made it loud and clear” they did not want the changes to be made, and Voidpoint “wanted to listen” to them.
Thankfully, some of the content has already gone. According to 3D Realms, the secret area was the work of a single developer and has already been removed, and 3D Realms will both donating the money and ensure jokes “at the expense of marginalized communities will not be present in future games published by 3D Realms.” As far as Voidpoint goes, the studio’s statement also pleaded with fans to “please respect our need to keep our community forums clean from hateful messages,” which might be quite difficult if the forum users are unable to talk about specific content within the game itself without falling foul of Steam’s rules on speech.
The debacle asks plenty more questions, particularly as to whether Valve’s attempt to stop review bombing is truly effective. On top of that, Voidpoint’s cries of censorship also raise an interesting quandary as to which was a more obvious show of attempting to censor the studio: the initial criticism of the game or the more public and outwardly damaging review bombing campaign. Either way, between this and that spat with Iron Maiden over the game’s name, it seems as though the old-school shooter underneath may be forgotten, much like other titles whose controversy outweighs their place in the marketplace.
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Sources: Voidpoint, Polygon
