You’d think after the shitshow announcements of the Fable reboot, the Perfect Dark reboot, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, all clearly pandering to “modern audiences” that gamers would recognize the damage DEI and ESG have inflicted on the gaming industry.
The whole damn thing is crawling with political activists in key development roles, churning out ideology-laden trash, especially from Microsoft and Xbox Game Studios.
For those still not convinced to avoid “inclusive” propaganda disguised as gaming, Obsidian Entertainment might serve as the tipping point. This is the same studio that gave us Fallout: New Vegas, an all-time great and was built by legends from Black Isle Studios. But since Microsoft bought them out, they’ve been circling the drain.
The Outer Worlds was a dud, crammed with forced inclusivity and progressive character designs. And now, with Avowed, they’re doubling down on this crap, practically guaranteeing another failure.
Obsidian’s upcoming release of Avowed, set to launch on February 18th, has become embroiled in controversy, largely due to its developers’ radical stances.
These developers have openly expressed disdain for the modern gaming audience, many of whom are vocal critics of ESG and DEI-driven business practices that they believe are negatively impacting the industry. The controversy intensified when the game’s art director took a public jab at Elon Musk for pointing out the effects of diversity and inclusivity mandates on gaming.
The controversy began when Elon Musk reposted a comment by former World of Warcraft team lead Mark Kern, also known as Grummz, criticizing Avowed’s inclusion of pronoun selection options like she/her, he/him, and likely they/them.
While some argue these features are minor and shouldn’t concern consumers, it’s natural to see them as part of a broader shift towards cultural Marxism. Many games have moved away from using traditional descriptors like “male” and “female,” replacing them with “body type” descriptors, aligning with ESG and DEI mandates encouraging maximum inclusivity, even if it means ostracizing 99% of consumers in catering to a tiny fraction of the population, as most transgender individuals still identify as male or female.
Pronoun selection is often framed as a small change, but it acts as a gateway for pushing more radical ideologies into the medium. Games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which included elements such as transgender top surgery scars under a transgender director, have been emblematic of this shift.
Notably, The Veilguard was a commercial failure.
Matt Hansen, the art director of Avowed, took to the alternative social media platform Bluesky, popular among leftists and feminists to criticize Musk. Bluesky has become a refuge for those avoiding mainstream platforms, particularly after Donald Trump’s return to political prominence, though the platform itself has faced controversies over inadequate content moderation.
Hansen, a long-time Obsidian employee, seized the opportunity to promote Avowed by mocking Musk’s objection to pronoun inclusion, boasting that he and his team “succeeded” in making Musk upset, as if it were a badge of honor.
A screenshot recently surfaced from Matt Hansen’s now-deleted Twitter account, in which he invited Black artists seeking portfolio reviews to DM him, stating they “would always have priority” at Obsidian Entertainment. He followed this up with a controversial remark: “We’ve got too many crusty White dudes in this field,” expressing his desire to help aspiring Black artists “replace him” one day, as he’d rather retire to the woods.
Hansen has previously expressed frustration at Elon Musk for raising concerns about the gaming industry prioritizing diversity hires over individuals with demonstrated merit and skill.
Musk pointed out that some companies appear to favor applicants who satisfy equality mandates to boost ESG scores and secure tax benefits, often prioritizing women and non-White candidates.
Musk emphasized that racism or sexism, against any group, including White men is unacceptable in any industry. However, initiatives like those from organizations such as Black Girl Gamers and companies like Ubisoft and CD Projekt Red suggest otherwise. Both companies, heavily involved in BlackRock’s ESG programs, have launched women-only initiatives to nurture the next generation of game developers, specifically requiring applicants to be female.
Matt Hansen didn’t hold back, claiming Elon Musk’s pushback against the gaming industry’s radical identity politics “emboldens” him, before calling Musk a “sad sack of shit.”
This kind of hostility is par for the course at Microsoft, where DEI initiatives reign supreme. Just look at Kelly Lombardi, XBOX’s Global Head of Marketing, who tweeted, “Raise your hand if you’re not a white man and you buy video games,” followed by, “No hate to White dudes, it’s just another day in the gaming industry that minorities have to fight to prove they exist.”
Hansen and his ilk are a perfect example of how out-of-touch today’s media creators have become. They don’t just dislike their audience, they actively despise them, especially White men who apparently are privileged. Instead of focusing on making great games, they’re more interested in pushing identity politics and pandering to “marginalized” groups, all while alienating the very people who built this industry.
Chris Avellone, who co-owned Obsidian from 2003 to 2015, didn’t hold back when responding to the Matt Hansen fiasco. On Twitter, he outright encouraged anyone who had been turned down for an art position at Obsidian in recent years to lawyer up for potential racial discrimination. Obsidian Entertainment, now under Microsoft’s wing, follows their DEI-heavy corporate agenda, and if someone can prove discrimination, it could cost the studio big time.
Avellone revealed that his call to action was inspired by a past experience with a BioWare producer, who allegedly displayed discriminatory hiring practices so blatant they practically screamed “lawsuit.”
BioWare’s downfall over the years speaks for itself. Starting with Mass Effect: Andromeda, the studio has made questionable hires like Sam Maggs, infamous for claiming she was raped in GTA Online and helped churn out politically drenched content like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart since leaving BioWare. Packed with LGBT characters and feminist messaging, it’s clear BioWare has been hiring liberal ideologues and cosplay hobbyists instead of qualified professionals for over a decade.
This is modern game development in the West in a nutshell: an industry where people not only fail to respect their audience but openly insult them. The industry is bloated with narcissism, where developers shove their ideological bullshit down consumers’ throats, blatantly discriminate against White men, and push for so-called inclusivity that feels about as genuine as a $3 bill.
And the kicker? When you call them out, they lose their shit and double down on the very garbage that has killed AAA gaming.
Take Matt Hansen, the art director for Avowed. He couldn’t make his contempt for gamers more obvious if he tried. He proudly admitted that Avowed was built to be as “inclusive” as possible, with the specific goal of “pissing off the chuds.” That term, by the way, is deemed a slur against people who see through the facade of games designed not to entertain but to preach.
Those games almost always end up being hollow, performative crap that nobody remembers apart from how much money they’ve burned or how they were responsible for the death of entire studios.
By calling gamers “chuds” and celebrating their frustration, Matt Hansen shows just how deep his disdain runs for the very people who’ve kept Obsidian afloat all these years. This is the new normal: developers insulting the same audience they expect to shell out cash for games riddled with political propaganda. It’s not enough that they’ve turned gaming into a platform for their bullshit, they also want you to fund it without question.
Every new game seems designed to dismantle the line between fantasy and reality while shoving anti-White, prejudiced nonsense down your throat.
These games are doomed from the start. Take South of Midnight, another Xbox Game Studios project, where they race-swapped the protagonist from White to Black under the guidance of Sweet Baby Inc. And Hansen? He’s out there spewing anti-White garbage on social media for millions to see, as if that’s going to help sell games. Spoiler: it won’t.
The only way to hit these people where it hurts is to boycott their garbage. Sure, they might get a temporary boost from ESG scores and BlackRock’s investments for being “inclusive,” but that’s not going to cover the massive losses when their games flop.
AAA game development costs are skyrocketing, with modern titles frequently exceeding $100 million in production expenses, and that’s before factoring in marketing. These games must sell millions of copies just to break even. When they don’t, the financial fallout is catastrophic, and honestly, they’ve earned it.
AAA gaming is in a state of turmoil, with even giants like Sony scrambling to offset massive losses. Following the financial disaster of Concord, Sony announced the PS5 Pro at a jaw-dropping $700 MSRP, while aggressively delisting older titles to push overpriced remasters onto consumers. When losses reach a certain threshold, even ESG funding can’t bail out these companies, leading to the current wave of commercial flops, closures and layoffs.
Over the past few years, the industry has seen an unprecedented number of failures, with major layoffs and the outright closure of both big and small development studios becoming the norm.
The root cause? Subpar, uninspired games stuffed with political agendas, featuring bland, androgynous, or overly masculine “female” characters that alienate potential buyers.
Developers like Matt Hansen, who openly brag about designing games to antagonize audiences critical of forced diversity and inclusivity, only add fuel to the fire. Hansen’s comments labeling consumers as “chuds” will likely come back to haunt him following the February 18th release of Avowed.
The politically charged RPG will be entering a fiercely competitive market, going head-to-head with heavyweights like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds. The odds are not in its favor as the whole month of Feburary is littered with other $60/70 titles that consumers actually want to buy instead and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Microsoft, already under pressure, has laid off thousands of employees this year, shuttering studios like Arkane and salvaging Tango Gameworks through Nexon. If or more rather WHEN Avowed fails to deliver, Obsidian Entertainment might very well be next on the chopping block.
When that day comes, expect the usual pivot from mainstream media. Rather than addressing Avowed‘s shortcomings and the industry’s obsession with ideological messaging, the narrative will likely focus on sympathy for those who lose their jobs, urging consumers to feel pity for the very activists who helped drive the industry into the ground, I for one will not be shedding any sympathy towards such people who racially discriminate against the very consumers of whom they depend upon to sustain their livelihood.
