Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said some things about politics in games and can we all just calm down?
Sweeney was keynote speaker at this year’s DICE (Design Innovate Communicate Entertain) summit where he suggested that games can serve as a valuable outlet for discussing politics, but also that “there was no reason to drag divisive topics” into gaming and that gaming companies should be “operating as neutral venues for entertainment and employees, customers — everybody else can hold their own views and not be judged by us for that”. This confused a lot of people and the internet reacted in a calm and rational manner.
Sweeney later clarified his position by saying that the political message should come from the creatives, not the marketing department.
Here’s one of the key views I shared at DICE. If a game tackles politics, as To Kill a Mockingbird did as a novel, it should come from the heart of creatives and not from marketing departments seeking to capitalize on division. https://t.co/x4eARz7Yyz
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) February 12, 2020
Basically, in Sweeney’s utopian future, gaming companies should act as neutral moderators that let their creative teams express whatever political message they want to, regardless of how that political message could affect the company’s reputation and revenues (things businesses tend to care quite a lot about). I mean, it would be great, but it’s just never going to happen.
Via Polygon.