Rust is a survival game that launched in 2013 and achieved great success on Steam. In 2021 it also came to PS4 and Xbox One. Now the developers behind the game had to cancel an event because they received death threats, which they take seriously. This is common in the survival genre, says one of the developers.
What event is Rust canceling? Facepunch, the British studio behind Rust, had planned a small event on the sidelines of the “Game Developers Conference”. You wanted to talk to the fans, talk and exchange ideas in a coffee shop in San Francisco.
But in a statement on March 15, the team said (via twitter) they had to cancel the event because they received an “IRL threat” that they take seriously.
The team will still take part in the conference, appear there in panel talks, but not, as planned, be reached directly at a contemplative meet and greet.
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Received threat to ‘kill the studio’
What threat was that? Speaking to PC Gamer, producer Alistair McFarlane says the location of the meeting was made public and a threat was received to “kill the studio”.
As a result, the studio decided it was too dangerous and would put too much stress on the staff to hold the meeting.
McFarlane says: “These threats are very worrying and must be taken seriously.”
Especially cheaters are a source of threats and insults
What makes that so depressing? Speaking to PC Gamer, the producer says such threats are common among teams behind survival games:
But McFarlane also says: The overwhelming majority of fans are respectful and support the employees, but there is always a small number of individuals who stand out with abusive behavior and even threats.
Rust has been getting a lot of media coverage over the last few years because it lends itself to being a big sandbox for Twitch streamers:
The German Twitch scene discovered Rust and immediately triggered a sexism discussion