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Update, 9 June 2017:Â
Mr Robson has contacted us with a response, in full below.
‘I appreciate all of your comments and views. Rest assured my apology was not ‘textbook’, it was heartfelt – maybe I should have expressed my regret differently. I made a massive mistake and I hold my hands up, but what I was trying to get across is that my Facebook post was written out of sheer ignorance rather than malice. I certainly agree that I need to take on board the comments of Rami and others, and become more educated about such a sensitive topic. All of my working career has been about giving opportunities to people from ALL backgrounds, regardless of gender, race or religion and I am mortified at being portrayed as racist. I will be do everything possible to learn from this. My head is not up my arse, it’s hung in shame and I truly am sorry for the offence I have caused.’
Original story, 8 June 2017:Â
Sniper Elite 4 developer Rebellion has publicly condemned comments made by Andy Robson, managing director of QA company Testology. The developer has distanced itself from Testology after Robson posted to his Facebook that ‘The only way we can stop this is to get rid of every Muslim in this country and send them back to where they came from.’
We have not worked with Testology for over a year and have no plans to do so in the future. (2/3)
— Rebellion® (@Rebellion) June 8, 2017
Testology is a quality assurance testing company that’s contracted by some big companies, including Warner Brothers. Robson made his comment in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in London, and it was brought to the attention of Kotaku UK by members of the industry. Kotaku UK highlighted the comments in a news report yesterday (where you can see Robson’s full comments).Â
As the report garnered attention, Robson issued an apology saying his comments ‘may have been misinterpreted’ and that, following the recent attacks, ‘it is hard not to get angry and lash out.
Rami Ismail, a Muslim developer and co-founder of indie studio Vlambeer, was interviewed in GamesIndustry.biz and said that this kind of attitude is ‘still far too common’ and ‘has a stifling effect on Muslim developers.’Â
‘In the end, many of us are a bunch of geeks and nerds and creatives and otherwise outcasts throughout youth, and being outcast again from country and passion just for having bits of a religion in common with a socio-political terrorist movement across the world is discouraging,’ said Ismail. We recommend reading his comments in full.
Shahid Kamal Ahmad, currently developing an unannounced VR game as Ultimatum Games, Tweeted a call to blacklist Testology until Robson apologised unequivocally, and said, regarding Robson’s use of ‘send them back’, that it is ‘The first time I’ve ever heard that vile, soul-destroying, hope-shattering expression used in the games industry.’
I’m a Muslim. RT if you think Testology should be blacklisted until Andy offers an unequivocal apology. https://t.co/6gkrx8856r
— Shahid Kamal Ahmad (@shahidkamal) June 7, 2017
Callum Underwood, Senior Developer Strategy at Oculus, made it clear he would not use Testology until Robson no longer worked there, and offered to help staff there find work elsewhere if possible. Mike Bithell, who made Thomas Was Alone, described Robson’s comments as ‘Incoherent nonsense opinion, and now how our awesome British games industry should represent itself.’
We agree.
