After publicly apologizing for the criticisms of transgenderism and social justice put forth by members of their team, Voidpoint has suggested that interested-but-outraged fans pirate Ion Fury instead of purchasing it.
After attempting to appease those offended by some of the beliefs and discussions held by members of Voidpoint and expressed in the 3D Realms Discord server by agreeing to “patching Ion Fury ASAP to remove all unacceptable language,” Voidpoint took to their Twitter account to clarify what these changes would entail. (Related: Ion Fury Devs Accused of Transphobia for Opinions and Criticisms Posted to 3D Realms’ Public Discord)
We’ve become aware of some confusion about whether Ion Fury will be censored in response or relation to recent controversy. The answer is no; we are only tweaking a rarely seen decorative sprite and removing some offensive text found outside the game world in leftover map data.
— Voidpoint’s ION FURY out NOW (@voidpnt) August 20, 2019
However, the announcement of the “tweaks” drew the ire of those who supported Voidpoint in the face of the ResetERA mob, who now believed that Voidpoint was apologizing and engaging in self-censorship to appease the mob:
Translated:
We said the F-Word & Daddy and Mommy from ResertEra got Mad.
We gonna whip our Workers for saying bad naughty word’s. pic.twitter.com/VEidSq3iJx
— 🖤キャミー🖤 (@KittyCat_Cammy) August 19, 2019
You’re not censoring anything, you’re just changing something deemed unacceptable by 3 cat ladies.
…which is censorship.
The hole was already dug. If you keep digging the hole like this you’re going to find it difficult to climb out for mandatory sensitivity training.
— ChristinAra Ara~ (@FourEcchiTasty) August 20, 2019
you guys are listening to people who DONT play your games, why? why do you give them so much power, maybe you dont care what happens to you now, but it will affect other devs one way or another
— Artic 18+ (@FallDrift) August 20, 2019
When you bend over to outrage mentality all you do is alienate the people who supported you. Disappointing
— Soggy_God (@SoggyGod2) August 20, 2019
Some players took to Steam to review bomb Ion Fury with negative reviews, citing Voidpoint’s apology and censorship as the reason for their dissatisfaction with the game. While the previous ResetERA led review bomb did little to shift the game’s rating, it now holds a “mixed” rating from recent reviews.
Undoubtedly tired from being held to the political and social standards of either side of the argument, Voidpoint surprisingly told a user who claimed they would not be buying the game to “pirate it”:
If you want to pirate it, it’s only like 95MB. You should check it out. We worked really hard on it and it’s a cool game. Fuck politics.
– Voidpoint’s ION FURY out NOW (@voidpnt) August 20, 2019
Voidpoint also defended the changes made to the game, claiming that they “didn’t really censor anything”:
We didn’t really censor anything, though. We’re swapping one joke for another one that fits the game world better and deleting some bullshit a dev accidentally left outside of the playable area on a map (you had to noclip to find it).
– Voidpoint’s ION FURY out NOW (@voidpnt) August 20, 2019
As of writing, Ion Fury publisher 3D Realms has not issued a statement on this suggestion.