The Last Night creative director Tim Soret has been forced to explain old tweets that were unearthed following his game’s reveal at E3 2017, with some Twitter users shining a light on the anti-feminist and pro-GamerGate views he’s expressed on the social network.
The Last Night was one of the highlights from Microsoft’s Xbox One presentation yesterday, though shortly after its trailer debuted, many Twitter users began pointing out controversial messages posted by Soret over the past few years. Among these tweets were messages regarding The Last Night from early in its development, with Soret explaining in 2014 how the game would “take place in a future where ‘progressivism’ has spiraled out of control,” and that it would feature “a cyberpunk world where modern feminism won.” “Finally we’ll have another take on the cyberpunk oppression instead [of] Big Brother / 1984 / HAL / big companies. #gamergate,” he tweeted.
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After The Last Night was unveiled Soret’s tweets were circulated online, including his statement that he’s “against feminism” and a request to use Vivian James, the “mascot” of GamerGate, in his game:
dunno if he's gotten any better but this is the lead dev of the last night pic.twitter.com/SVgBPsggsE
— Bobby Schroeder (@ponettplus) June 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/Bearpigman/status/874041727363022849
Zoe Quinn, the indie game developer who was GamerGate’s first target following unsubstantiated claims that she’d had relations with members of the gaming press in exchange for positive reviews, tweeted about Soret’s involvement with the controversial online group. “Just fyi I am 100% for never letting it go when a developer participated in GamerGate (unless someone actually made amends but no one has),” she wrote. “If you laid down with MRAs, abusive ex boyfriends, LITERAL NAZIS, et all, you deserve fleas.”
She continued: “Cause I mean if you think that’s bad I’d love for you to hear what my family had to go through because of you people. Reminder for the millionth time that I was accused of fucking someone for positive coverage that literally never existed for my free game. Three years and people still are mad about shit that never happened and still spreading sex conspiracy theories.”
Minecraft creator Notch then offered his thoughts, referring to Quinn as a “f***ing c***” in a response to a screenshot of one of her tweets:
Soret posted a series of tweets responding to the controversy, explaining that he supports “equality & inclusiveness” and that The Last Night is “in no way … a game against feminism or any form of equality.” “A lot of things changed for me these last years,” he continued. “The fictional setting of the game does challenge techno-social progress as a whole but certainly not trying to promote regressive ideas.”
Controversy time. That's fine. Let's talk about it, because it's important.
1 – I completely stand for equality & inclusiveness.— Tim Soret (@timsoret) June 12, 2017
2 – In no way is The Last Night a game against feminism or any form of equality. A lot of things changed for me these last years.
— Tim Soret (@timsoret) June 12, 2017
3 – The fictional setting of the game does challenge techno-social progress as a whole but certainly not trying to promote regressive ideas.
— Tim Soret (@timsoret) June 12, 2017
The Last Night‘s Steam page doesn’t feature any references to the potential themes touched upon in Soret’s earlier tweets, with it instead depicting an “era of leisure” in which universal basic income and artificial intelligence has rendered society apathetic. “Stabilised by universal income, people struggle to find their calling or identity, and define themselves by what they consume, rather than what they create,” it reads. The game will make its way to PC and Xbox One in 2018.
