It’s been almost a week since THQ Nordic bafflingly hosted an AMA on ethically questionable website 8chan, prompting an unprecedented backlash due to the forum's connections with racism, hate speech, and, unthinkably, child pornography. The organisation apologised at the time, claiming that it was unaware of the community’s poor reputation, but within the Q&A itself, employees from the publisher responded to memes including homophobic slurs and much more. It looked bad.
The firm has now, almost a week later, taken the opportunity to issue an apology. Before we republish it, in its entirety, we would just like to explain a little more about the company’s corporate structure. THQ Nordic AB is the parent company of THQ Nordic GmbH Vienna, and it’s the latter subsidiary that was responsible for the AMA. THQ Nordic AB’s co-founder and group CEO Lars Wingefors has attached his name to the following statement, after he said last week that the matter had already been addressed:
This letter is to offer my sincerest apologies and regret for THQ Nordic GmbH Vienna's interaction with the controversial website 8chan last Tuesday, 26th February. I condemn all unethical content this website stands for. Even if no one within the THQ Nordic Group would ever endorse such content, I realize simply appearing there gave an implicit impression that we did.
As co-founder and group CEO of THQ Nordic AB, I take full responsibility for all of THQ Nordic GmbH's actions and communications. I have spent the past several days conducting an internal investigation into this matter. I assure you that every member of the organization has learned from this past week's events. I take this matter very seriously and we will take appropriate action to make sure we have the right policies and systems in place to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
As a Swedish-based, fast growing group, we firmly support equality and diversity. We are also working actively to combat discrimination, harassment, and misconduct. We are already in the process of developing new work processes, based on the United Nations' SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and using the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards, and we will accelerate this work going forward.
There’s no word on how the responsible parties will be punished, although legally that’s probably a matter that must remain behind closed doors. The question is: are you ready to forgive and forget – or do you feel that THQ Nordic must do more to regain your trust? Let us know your thoughts on this whole sorry saga in the comments section below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 26
There we go. Honestly, anyone from the comments the first time around know that a clear apology was all I wanted and they’ve at least delivered an honest statement admitting they did wrong. I’m glad that they acknowledged the content of the Q&A itself and they seem remorseful. Let’s hope they can move on from all this and live up to the ethos they’ve set out in this statement.
Lesson learned hopefully, but to be honest all the things listed that 8chan are "connected" with can be found almost everywhere on the internet, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
@Nessisonett Oh thank God, I'm sure THQ is relieved that you and all the people you claim are supporting you are back in their good graces and haven't fully boycotted them
It was a freaking mistake albeit a dumb one and that’s it. I’m not going to boycott them or something life’s too short and important for something that genuinely seems a mistake.
Forgive... what, exactly? I mean, hosting anything on 8chan is unquestionably stupid, but little else. Companies do stupid things sometimes, because humans are imperfect creatures.
@RedMageLanakyn True, but even if you ignore the illegal stuff, some of the screenshots I saw coming out of the 8chan AMA I'd never want to be associated with my company. Never, ever, ever!
@get2sammyb I've seen terrible screenshots and text on Facebook, Reddit, and even twitch chats, which are usually heavily moderated live. I'm not saying 8 chan isn't a "bad place" but honestly, everywhere they could've hosted had the potential for any sort of content.
@RedMageLanakyn Sure, this is clearly a different kind of cesspit, though. And the fact that THQ Nordic directly interacted with some of the unacceptable memes that were posted takes this to another level.
@get2sammyb Well it's clear they had some truly twisted individuals working there if they were actively engaged with things of that nature. Hopefully they are no longer with the company, and THQ can get back to focusing on games.
How stupid can a company be. 😁
@get2sammyb I agree. Having individuals post terrible things on an AMA is one thing, but actively joining in while using an official THQ username is off the scale stupid.
@RedMageLanakyn If you weren’t personally offended by the screenshots from the AMA then I honestly don’t expect you to understand. I just wouldn’t want my money going to a company that publicly went along with hate speech that I found offensive. They apologised and made it clear that this, in no way, represented their values as a company so as far as I’m concerned, lesson learned.
Cool. I'm glad this worked out for everyone affected by this. I'm sure it's a weight off their minds. :3
Nobody outside of some niche forums' remembers this "asinine incident" just a week after. This speaks for itself clearly.
@snakemake
This is actually true whether people want to acknowledge it or not. That said, it wasn't the wrong decision to apologize for the incident even if the reaction is a bit over the top. And it was over the top. I mean, people love ResetERA yet there are scumbags there who actively call for people to get doxed and don't even get a slap on the wrist. Meanwhile you step out of line for 'wrong speak' like not hating a game such as DoA and you get a ban. So, I don't fall in line a lot of times with what the ridiculous game community considers a 'controversy' these days. Especially when it comes to stuff that goes on North America and Europe because people in these regions have gone full looney tune.
@nessisonett If I spent energy getting personally offended by what people said on the internet, I would probably be too tired to do anything else.
@RedMageLanakyn
Is that why I'm on antidepressants?
Whoa!... O_o
THQ Nordic did nothing wrong.
Ok, now where’s my apology for no sequel to Kingdoms of Amalur?
This entire fiasco is the epitome of a nothing story.
Put out a sequel to SPACE MARINE and all is forgiven. Just kidding. To me this was no fiasco at all, a lot worse and unforgivable things have happened. But a SPACE MARINE sequel would be an awesome lol
The Emperor Protects.
Anybody who was offended by this needs a hobby.
They're not sorry for s*it lmao they knew exactly what they were doing and they're tryna milk this situation for as long as possible.
@RedMageLanakyn @get2sammyb We have a lot to thank Facebook's moderators for in regards to what we end up seeing on Facebook. Check out this report from The Verge if you haven't already seen it – truly shocking stuff, and some amazing journalism from Casey Newton.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/25/18229714/cognizant-facebook-content-moderator-interviews-trauma-working-conditions-arizona
"I take full responsibility"
The most meaningless thing people tend to say.
Translation: "nothing will happen to me, I just to want you to get over it."
I mean, I don't think it was that big of a deal. But taking responsibility should have some consequences. e.g. step down (obv. not in this case), give your bonus to your employees, donate a part of your salary to charities for children. Something.
Maybe it's because I'm not quite as down with the kids as you might all think given how hip and happening I appear to be, but I was a little non-plussed by this entire controversy since I didn't even know what 8chan is. It's just a thing I've heard mentioned before in passing, but that I've got no experience with, and know nothing about, like I dunno, Love Island, or Twiglets.
So, sure, maybe they made a bum decision. But whether they willingly did it to try and be edgy and it spectacularly backfired, or whether they didn't do their research and didn't really know what 8chan is, I don't think this is an enormous deal. Someone had a shocker, presumably got their rump smacked by management, and hopefully won't do it again.
Having your brand name be associated with a forum where kiddie porn, neo-nazism, and every posible level of harassment exists, is probably not a good idea .... yet, THQ must have known what kind of forum that is, they can't be that stupid.
If THQ can respect that forum enough to have an AMA there, I don't have much respect for them. They might as well have had their AMA at the Daily Stormer, Stormfront or similar.
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