If you still doubted the tension emanating from the world of video games in recent months, here is a drama which should confirm that our industry is in the process of fracturing into two clans. It all started yesterday at the end of the day with a screenshot of an – old – message from Matt Hansen, the artistic director of the game Avowed, expected for February 12 on PC and Xbox Series. This is the new game from Obsidian studios and the studio, like the game, has been in turmoil for several hours following this message which has sowed discord on the Internet.
Reminder to Black artists looking to have their portfolio reviewed or get advice for their work: my DMs are open and you will always be my priority. There are too many crusty white people in this environment, let me help you replace me one day – I want to go back to living in the woods.
This message, which has since disappeared from Matt Hansen’s profile, was shared by the streamer Asmongold, also in controversy for hateful comments (definitely), which did not fail to provoke the anger of many players, at point where this story reached the ears of Elon Musk. The latter made a tweet (viewed 46 million times) to Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, to remind him that “it’s illegal”, while sticking to an idea thrown into the air: the creation of his own studio, because he believes that there are too many studios owned by giant corporations. A form of paradox in a statement which obviously hides Mr Musk’s message: his fight against wokism, even in video games.
For his part, Matt Hansen said he was happy to have angered Elon Musk by displaying the game’s inclusiveness (“I wanted to anger him so bad with my game, and I can’t believe it’s really happened”), but we imagine that his remarks must be the subject of a debate between Xbox, Obsidian and Microsoft at the time of writing these lines. While waiting to know if Avowed will be impacted by these statements, we remind you that the game will arrive on February 18, 2025 on Xbox Series X|S and PC and that our preview is still accessible.
