A series of transphobic and sexist comments are landing the team behind the anticipated new video game Ion Fury in hot water.
According to IGN, team members of Voidpoint, the developers who created the first-person shooter game, made belittling remarks about parents of transgender children, feminism, and "SJWs" in a series of Discord comments that were made public in a ResetEra forum discussion thread.
"If you’re trying to decide your child is trans at birth you have mental problems and probably shouldn’t be a parent in my opinion," read one particularly ugly and super transphobic Discord comment.
Now the Voidpoint team is trying to make amends with a large, $10,000 donation to The Trevor Project, a well-regarded non-profit that that focuses on suicide prevention efforts for LGBTQ+ youth.
"We recognize these statements are insensitive, unacceptable, and counterproductive to causes of equality," Voidpoint's official statement about the controversy reads, according to IGN. "We unequivocally apologize both for these comments and language as well as for any pain they have caused the gaming community, particularly women and members of the LGBTQ community. We take full responsibility for any damage that has been done to the relationships we've worked so hard to build."
They continued:
"Moving forward, Voidpoint will institute a zero-tolerance policy for this type of language and all employees and contractors will undergo mandatory sensitivity training. As part of our efforts to contribute to the work that must be done to further support these communities, we are donating $10,000 from Ion Fury's release day proceeds to The Trevor Project. We are also patching Ion Fury ASAP to remove all unacceptable language."
The game itself, which is published by 3D Realms, also reportedly contained homophobic language, which the Voidpoint team is now working to remove as well.
