GYGO: Controversy and Chill (Games)

Howdy and welcome to Get Your Game On! My name is Maddi, and since last we met I have started playing the life-changing Yakuza 0. My early-game thoughts are that I would do anything for Kazuma Kiryu and his kind, gentle eyes. As always, I’m sitting on a significant pile of unplayed games, but I’m looking forward to adding to it as the games announced at E3 start coming out. (I’m particularly excited for Sable and that Japanese Breakfast score!)

E3 was still stealing most of the game news headlines last week, but here’s everything else you might have missed!

One-Third of Games Announced During E3 Are Non-Violent

Melissa discussed E3’s many streaming woes in last week’s Get Your Game On, but the event is still making news. According to a study by GamesIndustry.biz, 115 of the 349 video games shown at E3 and associated events “can be considered as non-violent.” This is an increase from GamesIndustry.biz’s 2019 study, in which only 17% of games (41 games) were nonviolent. Though the article notes that the studies are not perfect one-to-one comparisons, the study is an insightful look at “just how much of the industry’s output relies on selling the same fundamental mechanic: the ability to fight and kill.”

Want to read more about the games announced? Here are some roundups from around the web.

• The Best Indie Games in E3 2021 (Khee Hoon Chan, The Indie Game Website)
• Everything you missed at 2021’s all-digital E3 (Engadget Staff, Engadget)
• All the E3 2021 games you can play right now (Mary King, CNET)

Five Nights at Freddy’s Creator Resigns Amid Controversy

On June 10, Five Nights at Freddy’s fans discovered series creator Scott Cawthon donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican politicians, including Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Ben Carson. The discovery drew significant backlash, especially from LGBTQ+ fans of the game given these politicians’ record of supporting anti-LGBT legislation.

In response, Cawthon wrote a reddit post on June 12 explaining his viewpoint, in which Cawthon defended his belief in equality as well as his support for Donald Trump. Notably, the post did not include an apology for supporting politicians whose legislation directly harms the game’s LGBTQ+ fanbase.

Cawthon formally announced his retirement a few days later on his website. Though his website is, at time of writing, not working, John Carson reported the news for GameInformer.

In other news…

Runescape launched on mobile platforms and now features cross-platform play. Though the MMORPG was released twenty years ago in 2001, it remains popular among players.

Fans are convinced a new Silent Hill game is lurking just around the corner in the form of an upcoming game called Abandoned by Blue Box Studios. PC Gamer has a great explanation of the situation but notes Blue Box Studios has since stated they did not intend to tease Silent Hill fans, nor is the studio in any way affiliated with Hideo Kojima or Konami.

Bundles galore! Enjoy a tabletop RPG bundle as part of a group that’s sponsoring Blaseball this month, or pick up 2021’s Queer Game’s Bundle. Or grab both if you have the cash to spare! I’m not your mom.

Cyberpunk 2077 is once again available on the PlayStation Store. The game was removed from the platform in December after its disastrously buggy release.

Kevin Johnson, a senior producer at Double Fine, announced the studio has been able to make the upcoming Psychonauts 2 without crunch.

Last month, I mentioned that Twitch was creating a new category for “hot tub streamers” after some creators’ channels were demonetized for not being “brand friendly.” Now, Twitch has banned Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa (who was previously punished for her hot tub streams) and Jenelle “Indiefoxx” Dagres for simulating the sound of earlicking while wearing yoga pants in Twitch’s ASMR category. This is, believe it or not, a new trend on Twitch. Twitch gave no reason for the ban, and it is still unclear what exactly about simulated earlicking ASMR in yoga pants is not within Twitch’s community guidelines.

That was a sentence I never thought I would type, and one that kind of makes me regretfully aware of how Extremely Online I am, so I’m going to go outside and feel the sun on my face. Here’s a meme, if you made it this far.

See you next month!