Deep Silver apologises for 'gruesome' Dead Island Riptide statue
Publisher "deeply sorry" for offensive statue of mutilated female torso.
Deep Silver has said that it is "deeply sorry" for its decision to include a statue of a headless female torso in Dead Island Riptide's Zombie Bait Edition.
In a statement published via Twitter, Deep Silver said that it "sincerely regrets" its decision to include the "gruesome" figurine, and that it was "committed to making sure this will never happen again".
"Like many gaming companies, Deep Silver has many offices in different countries, which is why sometimes different versions of Collector's Editions come into being for North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia," said the publisher.
"For the limited run of the Zombie Bait Edition for Europe and Australia, a decision was made to include a gruesome statue of a zombie torso, which was cut up like many of our fans had done to the undead enemies in the original Dead Island.
"We sincerely regret this choice. We are collecting feedback continuously from the Dead Island community, as well as the international gaming community at large, for ongoing internal meetings with Deep Silver's entire international team today.
"For now, we want to reiterate to the community, fans and industry how deeply sorry we are, and that we are committed to making sure this will never happen again."
It isn't yet known whether the publisher still intends to release the Zombie Bait Edition.
The "ultra rare" collector's edition attracted mass criticism from both the media and the community following its reveal yesterday afternoon, with some calling the statue a "horrible objectification of women" and "a text book example of the most extreme ends of misogynist fantasy".
This isn't the first time the series has faced criticism over accusations of sexism.
In 2011, developer Techland landed itself in hot water after the words 'Feminist Whore' were discovered in the original game's source code to describe a female character's ability.
VideoGamer.com has contacted a Deep Silver representative for further clarification on whether the publisher still intends to distribute the Zombie Bait Edition.
Source: Twitter | @deepsilver
Highest Rated Comment
BC_Animus
I do think however, that the gaming communities are immature in the way that they are responding, and the way which they seem to get outraged and offended at the smallest of things.
--
Also kind of upset at how PC everything needs to be nowadays, and how a lot of devs and companies seem to be catering to the masses, at times to the point of compromising their own artistic integrity and altering their games just to appeal to the PR team or the ratings board.
And yes, I know it's all about the money, about making enough to fill the banks, but I honestly feel like this is hurting our games, and is discouraging innovation and creativity.
I am sick and tired of safe, of "mature", of bland and mass produced. But you know what? That is exactly what we're gonna get 99% of the time, until we as gamers would stop getting outraged everytime someone try something new or different from the norm, until we learn to accept the dough that have escaped from the cookie cutter, the dough that have fallen onto the kitchen floor and have weird hairs stuck on its side.
User Comments
EverTheOptimist
Yup, it's a 'clever' publicity stunt that does get more interest for the product, but it's at the cost of making gamers once again look like idiots who crave nothing more than breasts and violence. Are others really not able to see that?
Wido@ Batmamerc
It doesn't matter now, Deep Silver got enough exposure and extra publicity for Dead Island Riptide. They had you all in their pockets and played you. Genius marketing, great PR stunt.
Batmamerc
p0rtalthinker@ EverTheOptimist
Objectification of women can be found in all walks of life as well. Just saying.
I'm with you @BCAnimus. Is it a terrible pre-order bonus? Maybe. Definitely better than some crappy dog tags or USB stick. Is it a bad PR stunt? Debatable. It got people talking, no?
What exactly is so damn special about this statue than any other media stunt pulled by developers/PR in the gaming industry? Some people need to grow up and stop complaining so much. Had it be a statue of a man I wouldn't have batted an eyelash either.
Deep Silver (and other developers as well) need to hold firm and stop backtracking in an attempt to cater more to their "audience."
tvr77@ Wido
Wido
Crying out loud, stop getting your pants in a knot people! Really does infuriates me when people kick the hornets nest and cause an uproar about complete nonsense.
rbevanx@ BC_Animus
I agree 100%
But I do think the ME3 ending thing was the worse one Deep Silver knew what they were doing and knew people would react to it in the way they have. Unlike Square Enix and their Hitman/Facebook thing which actually was terrible.
I just laugh at these things now and just accept this isn't gonna go away I'm afraid.
EverTheOptimist@ BC_Animus
And surely creativity and innovation isn't held back too much considering the development of games is potentially more accessible than ever if you have the patience and passion?
BC_Animus
I do think however, that the gaming communities are immature in the way that they are responding, and the way which they seem to get outraged and offended at the smallest of things.
--
Also kind of upset at how PC everything needs to be nowadays, and how a lot of devs and companies seem to be catering to the masses, at times to the point of compromising their own artistic integrity and altering their games just to appeal to the PR team or the ratings board.
And yes, I know it's all about the money, about making enough to fill the banks, but I honestly feel like this is hurting our games, and is discouraging innovation and creativity.
I am sick and tired of safe, of "mature", of bland and mass produced. But you know what? That is exactly what we're gonna get 99% of the time, until we as gamers would stop getting outraged everytime someone try something new or different from the norm, until we learn to accept the dough that have escaped from the cookie cutter, the dough that have fallen onto the kitchen floor and have weird hairs stuck on its side.
EverTheOptimist@ BC_Animus
BC_Animus@ chelskiboy247
Don't think many people will agree with me, but urgg, this bugs the hell outta me.
EverTheOptimist
EverTheOptimist
Deep Silver isn't sorry at all, they knew what they were doing. Remember, no press is bad press and this will almost certainly boost sales.
CheekyLee@ BC_Animus
Half a million likes, which means half a million people who WILL have seen it on their Facebook feeds, generated less than 20 complaints. I wouldn't class that as an outrage, and DEFINITELY wouldn't say it was Quote:
HOWEVER, if you happen to follow some of the game journalists, aka Quote: on Twitter, you would have seen at least twice as many complaints as that. And this is without even questioning why most of the stories not only included the photo in the first place, but are even now focussing on the most offensive part of it. You know, like above.
BC_Animus