I just want to point out: A lot of us are doing both.
We also don't expect it to go anywhere, but consider the matter serious enough to not want to drop it.
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How can THQ Nordic be held accountable for the 8chan AMA? (READ OP)
- Thread starter Hecht
- Start date
We also don't expect it to go anywhere, but consider the matter serious enough to not want to drop it.
The truth is, as seen in the previous version of this thread, THQ Nordic (any of them) won't be held accountable and will just continue on business as usual except now with an extra alt-right/nazi/pedo fanbase who will follow them to the ends of the earth because they "owned the libs" by hosting an AMA on their site.
People even here seem more than happy to continue business with them after what they did and the lack of consequence for anyone involved so I don't think they can be held accountable for their actions. It's just yesterdays news, just a "remember that time THQ held an AMA on a place that hosts kiddie porn? wasn't that funny?" and that is just super depressing.
People even here seem more than happy to continue business with them after what they did and the lack of consequence for anyone involved so I don't think they can be held accountable for their actions. It's just yesterdays news, just a "remember that time THQ held an AMA on a place that hosts kiddie porn? wasn't that funny?" and that is just super depressing.
I've already addressed this:
Someone is going to get hurt regardless of what you choose to do, you have to decide who you're willing to hurt. By letting THQ get away with this ensures that something like this will happen again by them or other companies, since they suffered no repercussions and got a lot of publicity over it. Outrage marketing is all the rage right now, after all.
The games media for the most part has been disgustingly soft about this and moved on, their partners are ignoring this and not commenting on it, all that leaves is the consumer to do something. And the message I'm getting from some is that they don't care either, so imagine how that makes me feel, imagine how that makes the victims of child abuse feel. What message does it show when what is considered to be one of the more progressive gaming community and forum on the internet is just handwaving our real feelings and trauma for the hypothetical harm that the devs may receive? Because I'm exhausted and depressed, not to mention frustrated.
I'm all for it, but don't expect anything. They're likely aware of what happened, but they're trying to ignore it and hope it goes away. Nintendo itself didn't comment on anything when one of their own employees was the target of a two month long gamegate harassment campaign, even after they fired her. I have no faith they'll do anything here either.
I'm upset by the lack of comment from them. For something as serious as this, an actual explanation of how this happened needs to be made public.
If I had screwed up this badly, I'd want people to know how it happened.
Someone "taking responsibility" and saying it won't happen again isn't enough. We need to know the thought process behind all of this before I can ever consider buying a THQ game in the future.
Their continued silence makes me think that there is no explanation that would make the situation better for them.
The truth must be so terrible that they would rather stick with the current level of boycott/disgust.
If I had screwed up this badly, I'd want people to know how it happened.
Someone "taking responsibility" and saying it won't happen again isn't enough. We need to know the thought process behind all of this before I can ever consider buying a THQ game in the future.
Their continued silence makes me think that there is no explanation that would make the situation better for them.
The truth must be so terrible that they would rather stick with the current level of boycott/disgust.
As much as I hate punishing all employees bound by contract because of the stupidity of a few, this absolutely starts with the firing of the person responsible and a proper, formal apology before I'll even consider purchasing another THQN game.
Ideally, I'd like to see media taking steps to put pressure on THQN ownership - remove their titles from sites like OpenCritic, take down existing reviews, and don't review any further THQN titles until some sort of action is taken.
Inaction from THQN upper management on this should not be allowed. I honestly can't believe that there has not been action taken on their part already.
Ideally, I'd like to see media taking steps to put pressure on THQN ownership - remove their titles from sites like OpenCritic, take down existing reviews, and don't review any further THQN titles until some sort of action is taken.
Inaction from THQN upper management on this should not be allowed. I honestly can't believe that there has not been action taken on their part already.
Personally I'd lobby for videogame press to just not cover THQN published games anymore. Or use every press piece on it to ask them why there were no consequences or why it is that promoting a site like 8chan is in their companies best interest.
And that is a problem.
It also doesn't mean we should join everyone else and stop.
Ripped?
There was little to no coverage on this beyond "wow what a bone headed mistake!"
No threat from the industry to pull away from THQ and stop covering their games. This ranges from games media and Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo for being silent.
The gaming media (and the big three) completely failed to actually hold THQ accountable, which is why everyone is going to forget about this in a month.
There was no "ripping" beyond like one or two articles.
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It sucks because the developers of Biomutant did nothing wrong, but unfortunately this game went from my wishlist to my ignore list.
Yeah, my boycott won't affect THQ's bottom line, but we live in 2019. We are oversaturated with games, movies, books... It's impossible to consume everything. Which means what THQ just did is making it easier to chose what to do with my limited time and money. Like Ubisoft did with the homophobic end of Odyssey's DLC.
I will still play enjoyable games all year. My money will probably end up paying the bonuses of people that are possibly horrible people in private. But at the very least, it won't go into the pockets of people who publically promoted pedophilia and child abuse. It's a very easy decision to make, at no cost for me.
Yeah, my boycott won't affect THQ's bottom line, but we live in 2019. We are oversaturated with games, movies, books... It's impossible to consume everything. Which means what THQ just did is making it easier to chose what to do with my limited time and money. Like Ubisoft did with the homophobic end of Odyssey's DLC.
I will still play enjoyable games all year. My money will probably end up paying the bonuses of people that are possibly horrible people in private. But at the very least, it won't go into the pockets of people who publically promoted pedophilia and child abuse. It's a very easy decision to make, at no cost for me.
Yeah, this, for my sake please don't stop. The fact that many in the gaming community is just letting this go is discouraging and depressing. Regardless of anything, we should all draw the line at child porn, and yet many are just shrugging and moving on to getting mad at issues like lootboxes or Anthem.
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Every time someone mentions people in the company who will get "hurt" by not buying a product that was shilled on a white nationalist pedo website
"Think of the peoples!"
Boycotting game is literally the real solution.
It tells the publisher you're not interested in their products due to their actions.
It really is. Acting like pressuring Nickelodian or whatever also wouldn't financially hurt some coder who also finds the whole thing abhorrent is silly. You either hurt them financially, one way or another or every which way you can or you're tacitly absolving them of any consequences.
Edit: We're fucked with climate change if we can't even forego a game or two we like from people who support child rape and shit, heaven help us when we have to start making actual tangible sacrifices.
To be fair to the "big three" listed here, corporate movement takes a lot longer than five days to happen, and it's impossible to know what's going on behind the scenes. All we know is that some people at these three are aware, as shown by Shannon Loftis from Microsoft (general manager of Microsoft Studios Publishing) acknowledging the event and asking why the link was still up.
Her (now removed) tweet is likely the reason why THQN removed the link. If the rumours of THQN publishing some Microsoft titles on Switch are true, this could very well be a sign that any potential deal may be reviewed.
It's highly likely that any repurcussions of the event in terms of action taken by Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo will never be seen by the end consumer, but that doesn't mean nothing is taking place.
It's easy to boycott them. None of their games are that great, Darksiders being their best, but still nothing that special. Decisions like this should have consequences and I think they're on track to suffer from those consequences.
If you're a PR manager and you don't know what 8chan is (a quick search would have told you everything you needed to know, at least enough to back out of the AMA) then you're not a good PR manager and should be demoted if not let go.
If you lied then just get the fuck out right now.
Either way, fuck THQ Nordic for doing this.
If you're a PR manager and you don't know what 8chan is (a quick search would have told you everything you needed to know, at least enough to back out of the AMA) then you're not a good PR manager and should be demoted if not let go.
If you lied then just get the fuck out right now.
Either way, fuck THQ Nordic for doing this.
I mean, we kind of knew this anyway. Just look at any thread in EtcetEra when there is a study showing the negative effects meat has on the environment.
This board, which usually likes to pretend it cares, immediately turns into "well, guess the earth is dead then because I need my steak".
It does not take five days for Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo to release a statement saying,
"We are deeply disturbed of the actions taken by THQ to blatantly interact with 8Chan for an AMA session, as well as the comments and responses by THQ employees to clear bigoted and hateful remarks that went uncontested. We will be immediately reviewing our relationship with THQ"
This is a forward and public issue, if the big three wanted to punish THQ and not be associated with the current heads of the company, they would have made very public and very clear statements showing that if there isn't an immediate internal restructuring that the business relationship would be under threat of termination.
Every time someone mentions people in the company who will get "hurt" by not buying a product that was shilled on a white nationalist pedo website
"Think of the peoples!"
Boycotting game is literally the real solution.
It tells the publisher you're not interested in their products due to their actions.
The solution to what, exactly? If the intent is to meaningfully impact the company's bottom line, good luck with that because, in the entire history of consumer boycotts, that has rarely been the outcome. It's especially unlikely when the politically-engaged portion of the consumer base is an extreme minority.
What might be achieveable is the Monsanto-effect. That is, colouring the reputation of the company itself. But that also requires significant engagement from the wider media and a sustained campaign.
Either way, the lower-level employees are probably not at risk here, unless they determine that working for a company that has suffered reputational damage may impact their future career prospects.
Nah, Penny Arcade as well. Good people and mods there. I use it as often as Era, but the traffic there isn't nearly as overwhelming as here.
https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/224419/thqnordic-an-object-example-in-how-not-to-do-pr/p1
I really wish Era had reaction buttons like PA.
Hey im not interested in buying THQ games usually anyway but im just saying how it is.
Not buying Shenmue 3, Biotmutant or any other game will show them not enough are interested in these games not because of their actions as a company.
There needs to be more direct pressure that lets them now what the problem is than not buying niche games. That doesnt send any message than maybe think about layoffs.
Let their partners Like Nintendo and others know. And put pressure on social media.
Im not saying you shouldnt boycott games. Its your good right. Im just saying it maybe isnt the solution you think it is.
PS: If not clear i dont buy these games anyway and dont care about them. My point is just about if they would get any message with only boycotting them.
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It really, really does take more than five days, even for something as simple as that. The corporate wheels in companies the size of those three grind very slowly, and have a lot more cogs. There are a lot of things to consider, not the least of which is not only the effect such a statement could have on any legal contracts, but a ripple effect on their other business relationships.
These businesses will also want to carry out their own investigation of the matter, contact their business partners, find out THQN plans for action (if any). They will not act on media reports alone.
A large amount of the flak companies the size of Microsoft and the others get in matters such as this is just from a misunderstanding of how the business world works. Actions taken behind the scenes by business partners of THQN can and likely will be far more damning on them, even if it's not visible to the end consumer and seen as inaction.
Microsoft and the others weigh everything when making decisions on matters such as these, and the majority of the time there is very little benefit to making a public statement.
I agree completely.
Also, I just want to thank you for being brave enough to tell your story in here. I have tried to get people to think about victims of 8chan in these threads before and was mostly met with a shrug of the shoulders. Having real accounts from people who feel hurt about the whole thing is really powerful and will hopefully get a few people to rethink.
Not buying some games when there's thousands of them is very little effort and barely feels like a sacrifice at all, especially since it'll free up money for me to spend on other things. But I'll do that. Feels like the least I can do.
Because of Lars Wingefors' (CEO, founder, board member, majority shareholder THQ Nordic AB) tepid, barely existent response to this severe situation that requires a serious, proper one, my boycott will include the whole of THQ Nordic including Koch Media, Deep Silver and whatever else.
Because of Lars Wingefors' (CEO, founder, board member, majority shareholder THQ Nordic AB) tepid, barely existent response to this severe situation that requires a serious, proper one, my boycott will include the whole of THQ Nordic including Koch Media, Deep Silver and whatever else.
Obviously if you are advocating for a boycotts you're also going to be spreading the message of what THQ is and what they did.
Which again, is why I'm lambasting the gaming media for letting this entire thing slide and putting zero pressure on THQ or any of the console companies into making public statements about this.
If we could organize a charity event in the style of the #ThanksGraham one, that could be cool?
Wouldn't count on it, but there's a chance it'd garner media attention, giving THQ another cycle of negative PR.
Regardless of how well it'd do, any donations to a cause opposed by THQ's newly acquired fans would be a good thing.
Wouldn't count on it, but there's a chance it'd garner media attention, giving THQ another cycle of negative PR.
Regardless of how well it'd do, any donations to a cause opposed by THQ's newly acquired fans would be a good thing.
Show me a company that had a very public issue that effects other business relationships and how those affected companies take a week to make a public reply.
Did it take the NFL a week to release a statement on Robert Kraft? No.
Did it take Sony a week to release a pot-shot video at their E3 conference attacking Microsoft for their always-online policy? No.
Did it take Papa John's a week to release a statement on Papa John throwing the n-word around? No.
There is nothing that backs up your assertion that this stuff takes time or is slow to roll out. Especially considering this issue has already faded from the public eye, what benefit would Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo have in stiring up drama and issues for a topic that nobody in the gaming community even cares about?
Did anyone here honestly believe that there was ever a chance that Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo would just drop THQ? Truthfully.
We've had this discussion before with the admins here. We've asked them to halt discussion of Atlus' games because of continued, unapologetic homophobia/transphobia. We've asked to be able to discuss their actions, while putting a stop to OTs for their games. And we've been told no. Same with CDPR. Same with THQ. Rinse, repeat. If we can't convince a forum to drop them, what makes you think Sony/MS/Nintendo would?
There is no line. The big three aren't going to drop THQ. The best we can hope for is to overwhelm Nickelodeon on social media and hope they respond by withdrawing THQ's license. Money is the only thing that matters. Don't buy their games.
Outright drop? No.
Be very public in exerting pressure on THQ to do something drastic to fix this issue and remove the people responsible from power? Yes
But again, that only happens when THQ is under heavy scrutiny from the media, and that never happened so there is no reason for the big three from doing anything.
It's the area of expertise of a publisher to find out which games do well and why. Thinking that they are just inferring that "guess people didn't like it" when a game fails is naive. Of course they will get the message it if people decide to boycott their games
You just listed a case involving a singular person, a trade show response, and an inter-company PR response. Those are not the same thing.
My whole point is that you probably won't see a response or the end result of any investigation, there are no examples other than my speaking from personal experience.
I would love it if Microsoft or Nintendo went to the public and made a statement, I really would. It likely won't happen, that's not how these things work, but the behind-the-scenes damage to THQN will be far worse and more effective.
If whether or not a game might get a sequel is what makes you willing to support a company that associates with sexually abusing children, then I don't know what to tell you.
Your assertion is companies are inherently slow on the roll, the entire contemporary history of PR contradicts that assertion.
Slow on the roll for matters involving multiple business relationships and legal contracts, yes. There is a lot to juggle. This isn't just a PR matter.
Please read more than one sentence. Its about them not getting the message and it not being the solution.
I dont give a shit about the games.
Boycotting would be the solution but since people cant even stop eating one particular type of fast food chicken sandwiches to show solidarity for their "friends" i doubt much will happen here.
Did you not actually read the post you replied to originally?
That's a public statement only and informs the public the situation is under review. I never talked about how long such a review would take, I only talked about how it doesn't take a week to put forward a public statement that condemns THQ
That one sentence is the exact kind of bullshit people have been spouting in this thread and previous ones.
Not buying their shit is the most direct pressure we as the consumers can apply to THQ Nordic.
And not buying their products and telling their business partners that they fucked up aren't mutually exclusive. You can (and should) do both.
Yes you are right. Im just saying boycotting games alone wont change a thing.
It will allow your money to flow to less morally bankrupt people. That alone is a positive.
You know, even after reading up why THQ had committed to that rediculous AMA from the OP, I'm still baffled why they even went ahead with it in the first place.
It would be pretty hard not to notice a straight line between this debacle and low sales, especially when the people who are boycotting the game will likely be leaving comments all over the place, probably even review bombing the game and specifically mentioning 8chan in their reviews.
I didn't know about the existence of such a forum, maybe I'm just getting too old for that stuff but it didn't look like I have missed much and it seems like the even more extreme version of 4chan. That said the guys over at THQ should have been smarter than me, even if I as a nobody would do an AMA somewhere I would first investigate what they are all about.
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They haven't disciplined the person responsible, made an apology on behalf of the company, acknowledged the situation in any way, and are refusing to answer questions about it. That's what makes this a THQ problem, not a rogue employee problem.
They signal boosted a site that openly allows discussion on sexually abusing children, and people posting child pornography.
It's a wink and a nod to an audience that likely never heard of THQ before. No one gets fired, no consequences suffered by THQ.
Well that's very strange then, could it even be that they did this as some kind of marketing stunt? Haven't heard a lot about THQ the last few years(!) they certainly have gotten some PR this way even though it's not really good one but the saying goes bad PR is better than none, eh?
What? How can this be even legal, how is that forum still online?
How is no-one harmed? Well, more precisely how could one objectively ever say no-one was harmed? You have one user here who already says that they emotionally were hurt. Their official company twitter linked to a website that Google itself thinks so dangerous they won't even send you to, in this era of the internet that's just one fucking step away from silk-road level shit you'd have to use TOR to get to. So the official company twitter conceivably brought in tons of outsiders with a direct link to a website the largest search engine deemed so dangerous they won't even list it as a search result, what do you think will come of that? How many people will now stay there and be influenced by that site? How many people were traumatized by that? What groups of people are emboldened by a company hosting an official AMA there? None of those have easy answers. The answer's probably not no-one though.
