Gamers who were already enjoying the substantial financial losses suffered by Sony after the disappointing release of their queer-focused hero shooter “Concord,” which took nearly a decade to develop and attracted only 700 players on Steam, have yet another reason to rejoice following the comically bad launch of “Dustborn.”
“Dustborn” is yet another game clearly designed to appeal to the LGBT demographic, with a focus on racial prejudices and political ideology. Unsurprisingly, gamers quickly dismissed “Dustborn” after seeing its cast of brown feminists, androgynous characters who appear to have vitiligo, and a token White character who is an overtly flamboyant homosexual / non-binary.
Despite this reaction, game journalists continued to promote “Dustborn” to consumers. The game’s publisher, Quantic Dream, seemingly coerced media outlets with exclusive interviews and coverage, even getting NicheGamer to cover the game during PAX East.
“Dustborn” was released on August 20th to widespread rejection around the world. Labeled as the “wokest” game ever made, it feels like a terrible B-movie, being a narrative-driven interactive movie played from a third-person perspective. If the character designs don’t put you off, the dialogue certainly will.
The opening cinematic has players performing a rhythm sequence to a song that touches on themes of refugees and declares that “your time is past.”
The game also manages to rhyme “porn” with “newborn,” which adds an “interesting” twist.
Gamers had no expectations for “Dustborn” because this so-called video game clearly wasn’t made for traditional gamers. Instead, it was aimed at the so-called “modern audience” trend, focusing on feminists, BIPOC consumers, and anyone who identifies as something other than human or heterosexual.
After all, it’s important to “pull every lever” to make sure video games promote the LGBTQ agenda because games apparently “aren’t gay enough.”
It’s safe to say that the release of “Dustborn” wasn’t much of an event. In fact, it may have had one of the lowest turnouts for a video game in recent times, with SteamDB showing a peak of only 83 concurrent players.
It’s quite possible that more developers at Red Thread Games worked on the project than people actually playing it, which is a rather sobering thought.
Honestly, the game’s dialogue and narrative make it seem like it could be a satire of queer zoomers in modern America. However, it turns out that’s not the case. The developers have unintentionally outdone satirical outlets like Babylon Bee and The Onion by accurately showcasing what’s wrong with the world.
It’s unclear exactly how long was spent developing the game, but considering that full gameplay videos on YouTube run nearly 18 hours, we can reasonably speculate that “Dustborn” took at least a few years to make. A lot of effort clearly went into creating the game, although the quality of that effort is, unfortunately, quite poor.
So, how did the developers of “Dustborn,” Red Thread Games, a small studio based in Norway, manage to secure the funding to spend years creating a game that feels like a parody of DEI and ESG principles?
Apparently, they received grants from the EU. Believe it or not, government funds, essentially taxpayer dollars were used to support this project.
However, it’s worth noting that “Dustborn” isn’t the first game to receive government backing. For instance, popular titles like “Cuphead” were partially funded by the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the developers of “Anno 1800” received a grant from the German government as part of a program to support digital media.
The indie metroidvania game Hollow Knight, which was released in 2017 to widespread acclaim, actually received funding from Screen Australia. Similarly, the French government spent money on promoting the progressive, interactive LGBT love story Life is Strange, with partial funding provided by the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée).
In the case of Dustborn, the game received 14 million Norwegian Krone from the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI) since 2019, which confirms that the game had been in development for several years.
The NFI, which is funded directly by the Norwegian government under its Ministry of Culture to support media projects ranging from game development to film and television, made multiple contributions to Dustborn’s developers. These donations total approximately $1.33 million USD in today’s market.
Dustborn also received a modest sum from the EU, amounting to 150,000 EUR or $167,000 USD, between 2019 and 2022, which coincided with the funding provided by the NFI.
Given Dustborn’s focus on DEI representation and its political messaging woven throughout the story and dialogue, it might initially seem like a niche “indie” game aimed at a hypothetical audience of genderfluid pansexuals interested in “bashing fascists” and “smashing the patriarchy.”
However, with the subsidies it received, the more accurate view is that Dustborn functions as sincere propaganda.
Fortunately, this propaganda hasn’t yielded a return on investment, as evidenced by its extremely low peak concurrent player base during the games release, with Steam numbers reaching only double digits. To make matters worse, it seems that its Norwegian developers may have drawn inspiration from another game for its world design, according to a particularly observant critic.
Since evil can only destroy rather than create, Red Thread Games lived up to this notion after facing plagiarism accusations. The claims involved an apartment layout and design that suspiciously resembles one found in Grand Theft Auto V, specifically in Grand Theft Auto Online.
Various screenshot comparisons reveal numerous similarities between the two, including the placement of shelves, stairs, and key features like lounge chairs, TVs, and theater systems. The striking resemblances between Dustborn and GTA Online suggest that these similarities are too significant to be merely coincidental.
In GTA Online, apartments are a key type of player-owned property, providing various functions such as basic storage and a space for planning and executing heists. The specific apartment in question that appears to have been plagiarized is Apartment 3 in Eclipse Towers, one of the first and oldest apartment types featured in GTA Online.
The reaction to the situation was a blend of humor and outrage, with some speculating that it might prompt legal action from Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games.
However, this seems unlikely, as Rockstar Games or Take-Two don’t hold rights over basic design elements like room layouts and décor, especially since you can argue that Rockstar Games themselves “plagiarize” real world vehicles with look-a-likes in the GTA universe.
Nonetheless, the striking similarities in apartment layout, design, and the placement of various features certainly raises questions about whether the apartment’s designer is an avid player of GTA Online, a game that garners millions of people daily.
No assets were directly copied or stolen from GTA V, but it’s a significant coincidence that the layout and design align so closely in numerous instances, including the placement of beds, shelves, plants, paintings, TVs, cabinets, and more.
Dustborn clearly seems to have borrowed design elements and cues from Apartment 3 in Eclipse Towers from Grand Theft Auto Online, reinforcing the fact that progressive activists lack originality.
It makes you wonder what kind of activists are working at Red Thread Games. For instance, Thea Bergh responded to Slick’s discovery by quote-tweeting it and calling it the funniest shit she’s ever seen. If you look at her Twitter profile now, you’ll find that her account is protected, making it impossible for non-approved followers to view her tweets.
Judging by her Twitter bio, which includes phrases like “Gay Agenda Connoisseur,” Thea Bergh is a game designer at Red Thread Games. The Oslo-based studio seems to be staffed by individuals like Thea, who fit the stereotypical image of feminists with distinctive features like circular glasses and dyed hair.
Women like Thea Bergh are now a common presence in the video game development scene in Western countries. We’ve repeatedly discussed how Larry Fink’s ESG policies and initiatives are damaging the industry from within.
However, it seems the industry is already dead, as every major developer and publisher is focused on promoting or incorporating these agendas into their products. This is done in exchange for short-term financial gains, supported by hedge fund investors aligned with BlackRock’s ESG initiatives.
The video game industry was already in decline long before gamers began to grasp the concept of ESG. It started dying in the early 2010s when media outlets and mainstream journalism began pushing the narrative that women made up half of all gamers.
This claim was supported by studies and research that included mobile games like Candy Crush and Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, skewing the statistics in favor of women.
Their attempts to claim that half of all gamers were women aimed to manipulate public perception of what video games are and, more importantly, what they should be. These misleading studies influenced the direction of modern game design, promoting the idea that more games should either be inclusive of or specifically targeted at female audiences.
To be clear, there are genuine female gamers who have faced ostracization and scrutiny from friends, family, and society for being “gamers” decades ago, just as men did. However, even today, as shown by Capcom’s Super Election survey, the gaming world, true gamers are still predominantly male.
However, game development has become increasingly feminized. The surge of the feminist movement after 2010 brought a wave of women into the video game industry to fight against “misogyny” and the “wage gap.”
These developers are heavily focused on issues like race, sexuality, and representation. A large portion of today’s game developers either identify as part of the LGBT community or are allies.
There was a time when talented women in the gaming industry earned their positions through hard work and dedication rather than due to the fact they own a vagina.
Amy Hennig is a prime example. She began her career as an artist at Electronic Arts in the early 1990s and eventually found her footing as a creative director and narrative writer at Crystal Dynamics, where she worked on Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and its sequels. Later, she joined Naughty Dog, contributing to Jak 3 and the Uncharted franchise, leaving a lasting impact on the HD gaming era.
Ultimately, she was pushed out of the company by Neil Druckmann, who has since steered the company and its franchises in a downward direction in her absence.
Other influential women like Roberta Williams, who essentially created King’s Quest, and Christy Marx, who developed Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood, had a significant impact on the industry.
Other women have found success as artists and composers, such as Naoko Mizuno, a producer for the Hyperdimension Neptunia series by Compile Heart. The character designer for the series, known as Tsunako, is also a woman. The CEO of Manjuu, the creators of Azur Lane, is a woman as well.
Yoko Shimomura has been gracing Japan’s gaming industry with her musical talents since the ’90s, and Michiru Yamane has contributed significantly to the Castlevania series.
Even the writer behind the iconic God of War trilogy, before it shifted towards a narrative-driven, introspective story about a cucked father, was a woman by the name of Marianne Krawczyk.
Unfortunately for them, the women in today’s gaming industry have not found success, and it’s not due to sexism. These modern developers, writers, producers, and creators aren’t just entitled but rather they outright lack the talent needed to thrive in the open market.
They appear as visually unappealing feminist drones, focused solely on promoting BlackRock’s narrative and agenda without opposition, with gaming journalists serving as their protective allies.
Instead of hiring skilled individuals based on their credentials, companies receive tax benefits for hiring lesser skilled workers who are transgender, disabled, or from marginalized racial groups that aren’t White or Asian.
There seems to be no real solution for the industry at present. As gamers, all we can do is boycott their games and watch as studios continue to collapse, with companies like Microsoft and Sony cutting jobs in a desperate bid to reduce costs. These activist-driven games cater only to their own creators and fail to engage the broader audience.
Consumers have become increasingly aware of the problems associated with ESG and mandated diversity and inclusion initiatives, recognizing that games are no longer subtle in their “messages” but are instead crafted as propaganda from start to finish.
Dustborn is almost certainly another failure. Fortunately for the Nords, its developers seem to have wasted taxpayer funds, unlike Sony, which has suffered a massive financial loss following the release of their live-service hero shooter “Concord.”
The industry is plagued by ugly feminists with dyed hair, who contribute nothing but activism. The industry no longer aims to appeal to the general audience, as consumers are instead labeled racist bigots by the media, journalists, and developers for not buying their subversive products, which are designed primarily to indoctrinate unsuspecting youths into their agenda.
