Anyone who thinks that Microsoft is on a crazy buy-out spree should look at THQ Nordic, some of their latest purchases are Handygames and KochMedia. Since 2016 nothing but good PR came from the huge publisher with around 1200 employees (confirmed in 2018). I was literally awe-struck in disbelieve that a large publisher like this would make the huge mistake in positively responding to the request from 8chan to do an AMA.
The backlash on the internet has been huge, at least on social media. I’m writing this up because I’m disappointed in the general gaming media that they hardly give any attention to this. 8chan a place known for freaking child porn and Gamergate boards hosting an AMA for MY beloved passion, video games… THQ Nordic has some very beloved franchises like Biomutant or Darksiders and even publishes some Microsoft games on PC.
Marketing director Philipp Brock is responsible for this mess and while he already posted a personal apology I’m still incredibly disappointed that this seems to be it, while I in no way want to suggest that he needs to be fired I still want something more as a simple apology, this is what he said:
“I personally agreed to this AMA without doing my proper due diligence to understand the history and the controversy of the site. I do not condone child pornography, white supremacy, or racism in any shape or form.
I am terribly sorry for the short-sightedness of my (!) decision, and promise to be far more vigorous in my assessment of these activities in the future.
his was not about being edgy, this blew up and I very much regret to have done it in the first place.”
Philipp Brock, PR & Marketing Director THQ Nordic GmbH (Vienna, Austria)
Everyone makes mistakes, me, you and obviously Philipp but this is seriously a mindblowing thing that I in no way understand. First working together with 8chan and secondly keeping the AMA up for hours and hours while they, at that point, became aware about the disaster that they did. A PR person like Philipp should have known better, the people at THQ Nordic in general should have known better and the response about this mess is almost non-existent.
If I place myself in all the THQ Nordic developers from upcoming games like Biomutant, Fade to Silence and Generation Zero I can’t feel anything else than sadness. I seriously hope that the inner-communication has been a lot better than what they shared with the many THQ Nordic fans and followers.
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