Get woke, go broke: SJWs don’t buy video games
Last week, EA announced that pre-orders for Battlefield V are unexpectedly weak. Which should surprise absolutely nobody.
The game had come under fire for historical inaccuracy and pandering to social activists. Battlefield V features a British female/amputee protagonist, along with black female Nazis. Long time fans of the series had anticipated the game would return to its WWII roots. While women certainly did serve for the British military, they weren’t in front line combat positions.
Now, EA could have explained to customers that the game was inspired by, but never intended to be an accurate representation of WWII. After all, that was the case with Battlefield 1. They could have also not said anything. However, EA being EA ultimately choose the most unprofessional option and tried to make it into a political and social justice issue.
In an interview with The Verge, EA executive Patrick Söderlund took offense at the accusations. “We stand up for the cause, because I think those people who don’t understand it, well, you have two choices: either accept it or don’t buy the game.”
It would appear many people have heeded that advice. Pre-orders are reported to be 85% behind those of Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, which is also releasing this fall. Söderlund departed EA shortly after this announcement. The company’s stock also declined 10% on the news.
When you’re fresh off a major ethics scandal, the last thing you should be doing is getting up on your high horse about anything. It would appear the company is desperate to erode every last scrap of goodwill they had left with their long time customers. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
What I think is happening is a lot of gamers are getting tired of the petty attacks and constant virtue signalling coming from both publishers and developers. It’s not just EA either. We’re seeing it more and more from Western developers big and small. Ubisoft, Riot Games, MachineGames, Campo Santo, the list goes on. The industry has gotten into its collective heads that it doesn’t need “toxic” gamers, and instead they’re focusing on pandering to far left activists and SJWs.
Except… those people aren’t buying games.
We’re told they make up the new majority of the gaming public. Yet whenever one of these publishers chooses to go to war with their long time fans. Whenever they choose to call them racist, sexist, manbabies and toxic males; sales go down. The same phenomenon is being repeated in other nerdly hobbies; film, TV, comics, collectible card games, etc.
If the old fans are unimportant as a consumer group, you’d expect there would be little impact on sales. Especially if there’s supposedly this vast, untapped market ready to fill the void. When companies choose to pander to SJWs, people lose interest and they lose money. Perhaps people don’t like being called childish names.
What these companies are essentially trying to do is market whiskey to Prohibitionists. You could figure out how to take every last molecule of alcohol out of it, without even affecting the taste. You might even condemn alcohol drinkers, but the Carrie Nations of the world are still never going to buy it. All they’re interested in is forcing you to change to appease their quasi-religious dogma. On top of that, you’ve now alienated whisky drinkers. That’s a fast pass to run yourself out of business. Indeed, that’s what’s happening in nearly every nerd hobby where the powers-that-be “got woke.”
Fortunately there has been some push back. Asian and Eastern European developers for the most part have little concern for the delicate sensitivities of western activists. Political correctness doesn’t really exist in those cultures. Even some western studios, like industry elder statesmen ID Software, have taken pot shots at how ludicrous the whole situation is.
Gamers just want good quality, fun games that allow them to escape from the real world for a little bit. For industry insiders to sit and call them names, and reject their concerns, is intellectually bankrupt, dishonest, and a quick trip to the poor house. At least we can all agree that if EA were to go bankrupt, nothing of value would be lost.
