[Relativ9]

Assuming he was fired, I could see them doing it quietly so as to not wind up in the news cycle again over a "politically motivated" firing or something. If he was fired, his Linkedin still has him listed as art director for the studio.

I would be very scared of firing him, and only him, if I were Obsidian and MS, if they want to fire him they need to first do a thurough investigation to make sure that he and only he was responsible for discriminatory hiring practices. If you fire him, and it really is a widespread and accepted practice at Obsidian/MS, then he can sue them for wrongful termination, in order to win such a suit he would need to prove that this practice was widespread and condoned by higher ups (which given the studio head RT is basically confrimed), once this is confirmed there will be a huge class action lawsuit that includes every white male developer and artist some enterpricing lawfirm can get their hands on. AND once that is settled out of court, state and federal authorities might want to also go after MS with big juicy fines...drop in the ocean for MS of course, but might be enough for them to close Obsidian for good.

More likely they're doing a internal investigation using third party investigators and will do a huge house cleaning operation so they can show that they aren't singling anyone out and are dealing with the core of the problem instead of the only guy that dared say it out loud.

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

Obsidians silence and refusal to publicly apologize and condemn his disgusting racist remarks is very telling.

 

[GreyHorace]

So yeah, let the review censorship begin. Remember that Spanish streamer who got an early review code for Dragon Age: Veilguard by pretending to be non-binary?

Well she says the harsh review she gave Veilguard has denied her a chance to review Avowed. By Obsidian and it's parent company Microsoft no less.

Xbox Blacklists Reviewer For "Harsh" 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard' Review And Demands Positive Comments For 'Avowed'

Xbox and Obsidian Entertainment have reportedly denied a review code to a reviewer for Avowed because of her “harsh” criticism of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.Fandom Pulse is a reader-supported publication.

fandompulse.substack.com

Here's a translation of her interactions with Xbox rep.

So yeah. REALLY SMART move after the Matt Hansen debacle may have cost the game it's core audience. I can't imagine how this latest brouhaha will affect the game going forward.

 

[Eneru]

Todays gaming landscape: 90% Drama. 10% Game.

Shit is worse than German trash tv nowadays.

I miss the good ol' days.

 

[Relativ9]

So yeah, let the review censorship begin. Remember that Spanish streamer who got an early review code for Dragon Age: Veilguard by pretending to be non-binary?

Well she says the harsh review she gave Veilguard has denied her a chance to review Avowed. By Obsidian and it's parent company Microsoft no less.

Xbox Blacklists Reviewer For "Harsh" 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard' Review And Demands Positive Comments For 'Avowed'

Xbox and Obsidian Entertainment have reportedly denied a review code to a reviewer for Avowed because of her “harsh” criticism of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.Fandom Pulse is a reader-supported publication.

fandompulse.substack.com

Here's a translation of her interactions with Xbox rep.

So yeah. REALLY SMART move after the Matt Hansen debacle may have cost the game it's core audience. I can't imagine how this latest brouhaha will affect the game going forward.

Seems a bit too frank and straight to the point for the pr person to say "speak well of our game and we will give you a review code". Seems too much like wearing the "we're the baddies" badge with pride. We sure this chick isn't just a grifter?

 

[GreyHorace]

Todays gaming landscape: 90% Drama. 10% Game.

Shit is worse than German trash tv nowadays.

I miss the good ol' days.

Really? I must admit I'm not familiar with German trash tv.

 

[The_Mike]

Todays gaming landscape: 90% Drama. 10% Game.

Shit is worse than German trash tv nowadays.

I miss the good ol' days.

How far back in Germany history time do you miss. .

 

[ExpandKong]

Seems a bit too frank and straight to the point for the pr person to say "speak well of our game and we will give you a review code". Seems too much like wearing the "we're the baddies" badge with pride. We sure this chick isn't just a grifter?

It's a Microsoft PR person, they're probably not as good at their job as you'd think.

 

[The Bloody Nine]

It's a Microsoft PR person, they're probably not as good at their job as you'd think.

It's also a translation.

 

[O-N-E]

The solution is to not pay attention or give $ to any Western AAA from established studios (Your EAs, Activision, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Obsidian, etc) for a while.

Newer studios like the one behind Expedition 33, I'll give a chance to.

Outside of that, there are so many great games in every other space that those big studios are completely non-essential. They just haven't realized it yet.

 

[[Tact]]

I would be very scared of firing him, and only him, if I were Obsidian and MS, if they want to fire him they need to first do a thurough investigation to make sure that he and only he was responsible for discriminatory hiring practices. If you fire him, and it really is a widespread and accepted practice at Obsidian/MS, then he can sue them for wrongful termination, in order to win such a suit he would need to prove that this practice was widespread and condoned by higher ups (which given the studio head RT is basically confrimed), once this is confirmed there will be a huge class action lawsuit that includes every white male developer and artist some enterpricing lawfirm can get their hands on. AND once that is settled out of court, state and federal authorities might want to also go after MS with big juicy fines...drop in the ocean for MS of course, but might be enough for them to close Obsidian for good.

More likely they're doing a internal investigation using third party investigators and will do a huge house cleaning operation so they can show that they aren't singling anyone out and are dealing with the core of the problem instead of the only guy that dared say it out loud.

California is an at-will state, so they could potentially fire him for any reason if they wanted to. I think that they would probably use the angle of publicly making the company look bad in the news, rather than the hiring practices thing which they would have to prove. But, you make great points. This guy has put them in a really precarious position. You would think Obsidian would have coached their employees on what to say on the internet.

My last job was extremely clear about what you were and were not allowed to post on social media if you wanted to be publicly associated with them.

 

[ExpandKong]

Pretty wild that dozens (hundreds?) of people can work on something like this for five or six years of their lives only to have one dipshit pencil-wristed art director come along and just piss off tons of potential customers like a month before launch.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Pretty wild that dozens (hundreds?) of people can work on something like this for five or six years of their lives only to have one dipshit pencil-wristed art director come along and just piss off tons of potential customers like a month before launch.

The lesson should be: troons and their allies are a destabilizing force in any company.

But of course that isn't the lesson they will learn.

 

[Arkam]

ok i think it's now fairly safe to say that no comment is coming from Obsidian/Xbox/Microsoft. Read from that what you will.

 

[GreyHorace]

ok i think it's now fairly safe to say that no comment is coming from Obsidian/Xbox/Microsoft. Read from that what you will.

Obviously adapting a 'don't say shit until the release date and hope the controversy blows over' strategy.

 

[The Bloody Nine]

ok i think it's now fairly safe to say that no comment is coming from Obsidian/Xbox/Microsoft. Read from that what you will.

This same dork I mentioned earlier is still adamant that he's been fired and they're just taking their time announcing it because he's going to litigate.

 

[The Bloody Nine]

All in here. Trust me, bro, at this point.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2457220/discussions/0/4638240577738106396/

 

[[Tact]]

All in here. Trust me, bro, at this point.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2457220/discussions/0/4638240577738106396/

Regardless of the truth of his info: I question the soundness of the supposed strategy of announcing someone's firing near Christmas or New Years. Just more negative news during Holidays, and even closer to release.

 

[Mickmrly]

How far back in Germany history time do you miss. .

To the glorious Holy Roman Empire days of course!

 

[Arkam]

Regardless of the truth of his info: I question the soundness of the supposed strategy of announcing someone's firing near Christmas or New Years. Just more negative news during Holidays, and even closer to release.

In the games industry it's pretty normal actually. I have seen layoffs take place the week before Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas (and ahead of a paid studio break). Firings you do when needed and layoffs you do based on quarterly financial reporting (either ahead of or in response to)

 

[GreyHorace]

In the games industry it's pretty normal actually. I have seen layoffs take place the week before Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas (and ahead of a paid studio break). Firings you do when needed and layoffs you do based on quarterly financial reporting (either ahead of or in response to)

I guess firings are not really announced outside of the company hun?

 

[Gold Loot]

Jesus. This guy should have been fired with a lengthy apology letter to EVERYONE within a 48 hour window.

Now they're just gonna double down and a hundred innocent people will lose their job because of it.

Fuck. Sony has been pretty fucking stupid this gen. But here comes MS, sprinting right to the front.

 

[Arkam]

I guess firings are not really announced outside of the company hun?

They are not even announced within the company usually. You inform those that are impacted by the person being gone. And then you just say "this person is no longer with the company". No details.

But in this case, being public I would have expected a statement to the effect that the company does not agree with statements made by current and/or former members of their staff. And not actually say the person got shitcanned.

 

[GreyHorace]

They are not even announced within the company usually. You inform those that are impacted by the person being gone. And then you just say "this person is no longer with the company". No details.

But in this case, being public I would have expected a statement to the effect that the company does not agree with statements made by current and/or former members of their staff. And not actually say the person got shitcanned.

The fact that Obsidian and Microsoft have no released such statement is TELLING. Meaning that a majority of them agree with Hansen's idiotic social media posts, but are now keeping their mouths shut so as not to damage Avowed's marketing even further.

But what do you expect from a company so infested with wokeness? Especially when they're blocking people on their official Twitter and Reddit page whenever the pronoun thing is brought up. And don't even think of raising a fuss on the official Obsidian forums, lest you get labeled raising dissent and end up being banned.

 

[gameragodzilla]

People forget that beyond the bad animations, what truly sunk Mass Effect Andromeda was that developer mouthing off about white people.

I actually thought Andromeda was decent for what it was and fully beat it, but it never had a chance once its PR was sunk like that.

Avowed is gonna be in the exact same situation, and no matter how good the base game is, it's gonna fail. What a shame.

 

[GreyHorace]

People forget that beyond the bad animations, what truly sunk Mass Effect Andromeda was that developer mouthing off about white people.

I actually thought Andromeda was decent for what it was and fully beat it, but it never had a chance once its PR was sunk like that.

Avowed is gonna be in the exact same situation, and no matter how good the base game is, it's gonna fail. What a shame.

You mean Manveer Heir?

Ironic, considering he blamed the problems of Andromeda on the 'all white leadership' at Bioware.

news

news

www.gamasutra.com

Don't know where this race grifter is now. Probably seething that Trump won the election.

 

[gameragodzilla]

You mean Manveer Heir?

Ironic, considering he blamed the problems of Andromeda on the 'all white leadership' at Bioware.

news

news

www.gamasutra.com

Don't know where this race grifter is now. Probably seething that Trump won the election.

Yup that's the guy.

As I said, I actually liked the game for what it was and even defended from people, but no amount of credit I give the other developers not named Manveer Heir was gonna change the fact that his comments are all anyone knew about the game. He was legit anti-marketing.

I recall they muzzled him afterwards, but by then, the damage was done. A completely self-inflicted wound. This is the exact same situation, though I'm less interested in Avowed in the first place so I won't be giving it a chance like I did Mass Effect Andromeda.

EDIT:

To the glorious Holy Roman Empire days of course!

Also, completely unrelated, but I am always amused that the Germans created the Holy Roman Empire when they were famously not pacified by the Roman Empire during the Battle of Teutoberg Forest and then destroyed Western Rome 500 years later.

Wonder what Arminus would think. lmao

 

[[Tact]]

You would think that studios would mandate their employees stop posting on social media under their real name while openly associating with the business...

 

[WesternBlood]

Mass Effect Andromeda is a great canary in the coal mine for the decline of BioWare. The Two founders of the company, the Doctors, had left and that clown was put in charge of that game. Not only did he promote the racism that the left has pushed into all cultural and academic spaces, and pushing into businesses under threat if you don't have DEI (now being renamed to BRIDGE) agents/policies, but is very apparent that the game suffered from bad talent. From the story to the actual models of the characters faces.

Compare that game against any of the Previous Mass Effect games and you have a strong case that meritocracy was thrown out the window when the new cadre took over, in addition to the bullshit Manveer Heir would publicly showcase on social media.

 

[gameragodzilla]

You would think that studios would mandate their employees stop posting on social media under their real name while openly associating with the business...

Yeah. They can spew all the want as long as they stay anonymous. Once their comments become associated with a game, they're part of PR and marketing whether they like it or not.

EDIT:

Mass Effect Andromeda is a great canary in the coal mine for the decline of BioWare. The Two founders of the company, the Doctors, had left and that clown was put in charge of that game. Not only did he promote the racism that the left has pushed into all cultural and academic spaces, and pushing into businesses under threat if you don't have DEI (now being renamed to BRIDGE) agents/policies, but is very apparent that the game suffered from bad talent. From the story to the actual models of the characters faces.

Compare that game against any of the Previous Mass Effect games and you have a strong case that meritocracy was thrown out the window when the new cadre took over, in addition to the bullshit Manveer Heir would publicly showcase on social media.

Yeah, and that lesser talent pool was even worse since the game was far more ambitious than prior Mass Effect games. I still enjoyed what they did accomplish, and the gun customization, dodging ability, and biotic powers were genuinely a lot of fun. I even enjoyed the small open worlds and feeling how my actions were actually making the planets more liveable.

But there's no doubt that its ambitions would've been far better achieved if they didn't have a DEI talent pool and also didn't sink their PR with that guy's blatant racism.

 

[GreyHorace]

Yup that's the guy.

As I said, I actually liked the game for what it was and even defended from people, but no amount of credit I give the other developers not named Manveer Heir was gonna change the fact that his comments are all anyone knew about the game. He was legit anti-marketing.

I recall they muzzled him afterwards, but by then, the damage was done. A completely self-inflicted wound. This is the exact same situation, though I'm less interested in Avowed in the first place so I won't be giving it a chance like I did Mass Effect Andromeda.

You would think that studios would mandate their employees stop posting on social media under their real name while openly associating with the business...

Yeah. They can spew all the want as long as they stay anonymous. Once their comments become associated with a game, they're part of PR and marketing whether they like it or not.

You'd think idiots like Manveer Heir and Matt Hansen would learn from the patron saint of pissing off the internet.

Shit, it's been 11 years since Adam Orth opened his big fat mouth and callously dismissed the concerns of gamers regarding the always-online requirement of the Xbone ahead of it's release. But no biggie, it only cost him his job at Microsoft and made him the laughingstock of the internet, all because he was stupid enough not to private his Tweets when he was having a playful argument with a friend regarding internet connectivity. (By coincidence, the friend he was arguing with? One Manveer Heir)

It's 2024 now, and why haven't these game devs learned from Saint Orth's example? Or all they all just retarded?

 

[CAPTAIN RAINCOAT]

pretty sure you can fix your game company by asking one simple question in the interview......how many genders are there?

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Todays gaming landscape: 90% Drama. 10% Game.

Shit is worse than German trash tv nowadays.

I miss the good ol' days.

I miss reading about 80ies bedroom coders in gaming magazines.
Andrew Braybrook, Steve Bak, Rob Hubbard, etc...

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Also, completely unrelated, but I am always amused that the Germans created the Holy Roman Empire when they were famously not pacified by the Roman Empire during the Battle of Teutoberg Forest and then destroyed Western Rome 500 years later.

Wonder what Arminus would think. lmao

I was always wondering about that as well..
Seems strange that they thought they needed to take that mantle.

 

[HE1NZ]

Also, completely unrelated, but I am always amused that the Germans created the Holy Roman Empire when they were famously not pacified by the Roman Empire during the Battle of Teutoberg Forest and then destroyed Western Rome 500 years later.

Wonder what Arminus would think. lmao

Germans didn't exist back then. They were Franks who splintered off from Carolingian empire and left with control of modern Germany and Rome.

 

[Adam Warlock]

I doubt he was fired as he's still on Linkedin as working at Obsidian. Most people update that with looking for work immediately.

 

[Grinchy]

I doubt he was fired as he's still on Linkedin as working at Obsidian. Most people update that with looking for work immediately.

Have there ever been situations where a severance is tied to not announcing you have lost the job for some window of time?

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Have there ever been situations where a severance is tied to not announcing you have lost the job for some window of time?

I can't imagine that being legal. You have to pretend you're still working for the company for x amount of weeks to get severance? How would that affect your job search?

 

[Grinchy]

I can't imagine that being legal. You have to pretend you're still working for the company for x amount of weeks to get severance? How would that affect your job search?

I just wonder since in a situation like this, they can probably just fire his ass without giving him a dime. So if he wants the dime, he's willing to play ball. But again, this is totally just spitballing here and wondering out of curiosity if that ever happens in a situation like this.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

I just wonder since in a situation like this, they can probably just fire his ass without giving him a dime. So if he wants the dime, he's willing to play ball. But again, this is totally just spitballing here and wondering out of curiosity if that ever happens in a situation like this.

Or maybe he hasn't been fired.