If You're an A****le, I Don't Want You As A Customer - Publisher Says

TGG says: "A Statement From Stefan Marcinek, Founder and CEO of Assemble Entertainment. I am only concerned with serving customers who have their hearts in the right place."

[monkey602]

While I ultimately agree with this stance and wish more people weren't afraid to say something similar, there's a middle ground. Anyone abusive or nasty should absolutely be told to go F themselves. But bare in mind not everyone with an opposing view is evil or unreasonable. To take that severe a reaction to them could be seen as hypocritical.

I'll admit I have no clue what the political reference to Germany is there, so maybe the statement is more fitting than it seems strange to me right now ha

[TheOptimist]

I think there is a massive difference between a critic and an asshole tbh

[EvertonFC]

Critics and ass holes are both

[XiNatsuDragnel]

@EvertonFC
I disagree with people like you. Critics and assholes are very different tbh.

[Rimeskeem]

Critics are those who want something to be better. Assholes are those who just mean with no actual longing for something to be better.

[dragonyght]

Unfortunately Critic and asshole get get lump together in order to deflect any sort of criticism, and it have become the default tactic Nowadays by Dev/Studio/Publisher

[strifeblade]

Ahh I see the latter is what I normally see if PlayStation fanboys on this site.

[NeoGamer232]

The article the speakers make no mention of ass****s. The author of the article titled it this way to get clicks.

"If you are one of those people who can’t accept others because they don’t fit your worldview, because they are gay, lesbian, bi, trans or queer, who considers people with a different skin color, religion or ancestry than your own to be foreign or abnormal, who can’t stand them or even insults them, in what way ever, or who is incapable of respecting women and is violent; who votes for “parties” that are disgusting and inhuman, supports them, sympathizes with them or is active as a politician for them (yes, I’m referring especially to the AfD in Germany), then I want to make this perfectly clear:

I don’t want you as a customer!"

is the exact words in the article. The title of this article should be changed because the author is interpreting the remarks, the co-founder did not state that explicitly. I have no clue why this article was approved as is.

[MoonConquistador]

His main point wasn't about being abusive or nasty. The majority of people have had odd moments of being abusive or can reflect in times in their life where they have been nasty and wish they had acted differently.

But underneath are your core values and beliefs. Do you believe that women can't do certain jobs that men can. Do you believe that people with a different skin colour are inferior or lessen the greatness of your once great "white supremacist empire". Do you look down on people who are different to your ideal whether that be their gender, identity, sexual preferences, race creed or colour.

I think it was a well written statement and I for one applaud him for making it.

Well done sir

[John_McClane]

It's just more woke, cancel culture crap, go woke go broke.

[InUrFoxHole]

Women can do the same jobs as men... Just not as well.

[frostypants]

I mean...the average woman CAN'T do certain jobs that the average man can, because like it or not there ARE physical differences...on average. Doesn't mean than some women can't buck the norm, and they absolutely should be allowed to. But if, for example, military physical requirements have to be dumbed down so more women can pass muster, that's where a line is being crossed (in that particular example, lives and unit effectiveness are being put at risk for a feel-good quota). And if we're to believe that they CAN do anything a man can do on average, then such handicapping wouldn't be necessary.

Point being there's nuance to this stuff. I'd also point out that the things women can do that men can't do are even more biologically stark.

[dbcoops]

The problem is literally none of that has anything to do with selling a person a video game, he has no idea what anyone who buys one of his games thinks or feels or believes and it has no barring on him personally, as such this is little more than an angry rant from what he sees as the moral high ground. I think when we start dictating to people to not buy products because their personal views differ from our own we are heading down a very slippery slope. More importantly who made him the authority on core values and beliefs?

[_Decadent_Descent]

Women can't do all the same jobs as men, or even some of the same jobs to the same effectiveness as men. That's not discrimination, that's just an understanding and acceptance of empirical and anatomical facts.

[Sayai jin]

@OrganicGamer, you and maby others still trying to push white-washed history. Yes, there have been slaves throughout time. Europeans, Africans, Asians, etc across the globe and time. Yet, the largest amount on scale, systematically slave trade was the Transatlantic Slave trade. Mutliple European countries had it down to percerted science. Yes, there were African tribes who sold Africans to Europeans for weapons and other goods, but most slaves were just taken and once most European countries figured out how to not trade Africans for slaves. They cut out the middle man. From the Brithish, Dutch, Swedes, Italian, French, Portuguese, and so on moved hundreds of millions of slaves for centuries from Africa. They had drops in throughout South America and the Carribean and onto the US. Where thede invaders pillaged, pkudered, looted, enslaved, killed, etc unchecked. The brutality of the Transatlantic Slave Trade was published and taught by Europeans. They had courses on how to breed, subjugate, etc their captors.

So you speak of history, speak truth, not nonsense. History perfectly reports the barbaric acts of the Barbary Slave Trade, slavery in Asia, Ancient Egypt slave trade, etc. Yetx when you speak of conquest and slavery Europeans whitewash and sugarcoat the savaragey, terrorism, invasion, genocide, etc globally as exploration, colonialism, etc. Times up though, just look at the migration around the globe.

[Sayai jin]

@John Mclane, Cancel culture is in reality people finally being held accountable. Strap up, becuase there's no stopping.

[Sayai jin]

Justadelision. Only a fool would believe that. Evil people are evil. I have seen my fair share of it as I deployed globally in the military.

[Imalwaysright]

Sayai jin

White washing? When slavery is the topic, everyone and their mother will invariable and always talk about the atlantic slave trade with some even claiming that slavery was invented by the big bad white men.

Pretty much no one talks about Egypt that enslaved the entire population of Israel, Mali's Mansa Musa who became the richest man to have ever lived on the backs of every single person that he enslaved and he alone "owned" 60 000 slaves. No one talks about the 1 million white people that were enslaved during the atlantic slave trade. No one talks about native american tribes enslaving rival tribes, no one talks about slavery happening today in Africa and how it's not illegal to "own" slaves in some african countries while in my country, Portugal, slavery was abolished in 1863, in the UK was abolished in1807 and in the USA a civil war was started in 1861 due to disagreements about slavery.

Today slavery is seen as a white men evil despite the fact that many countries in every single continent had slave economies centuries ago so don't give me your crapola about white washing of history when the opposite is what's happening today.

[13sentinel]

"Do you believe that people with a different skin colour are inferior or lessen the greatness of your once great "white supremacist empire".

Translation: "Only white people are racist" - The racist.

[Ristul]

If there is a fire in your building and you need firefighter to carry you out of the building, would you want a woman or a man to do the job. Men and woman are not the same, we are very different in a lot of ways. Musclemass and strenght is one of those factors.

Stefan Marcinek is a leftist elit, looks down on anyone with a conservative nature it seems. Oh well, l have never bought any of his games so no worries.

[gamer7804]

Some of what he said I agree with but other parts were basically If you disagree or vote differently politically you are not welcome as a customer. IMO the message was passionate but inconsistent.

[Sayai jin]

@Imalwaysright, reading/comprehension is fundamental. You can be upset and/or disillusioned about slavery being white washed, but you are not disagreeing with me. You are disagreeing with the majority
of history scholars across the planet. They acknowledge Anglos from Europe have whitewashed history across the globe. This isn't an opinion, it's a well known fact. It was even done on maps. Where most American and European maps and globes would depict Africa as the same size or as smaller continents...i.e. show the continental US and scale it to the size of Africa. Pathetic. The white washing of history won't be tolerated. It has and is still trying to be done. For instance, my homes state of Texas is attempting to take portions of US slavery, civil rights, Women's suffrage out as a requirement. It was in MCMillian Book Co. who produces school books in the US, had a few state's (Texas being one) middle school history books mention US slavery as more of a indentured servitude and that slaves were happy because their masters fed them and they sang. The curriculum mentioned that the slaves would work very hard and sing, then after, their over-seerer (that's another term they try to whitewash), more like their slave owner, would have a barbeque for them and let them dance and sing. This is on just a microscale, but the attempted white wahsing is on the macroscale. More white washing...calling invasion and terrorism colonialism...

"When slavery is the topic, everyone and their mother will invariable and always talk about the Atlantic slave trade with some even claiming that slavery was invented by the big bad white men."

Who's everyone? When people say things like everyone and nobody at all they are usually speaking of a narrow or anecdotal viewpoint. I have lived all over the globe and have a good bit of higher education and I have heard about the different slave practices throughout history and I have seen lectures, documentaries, etc about those practices. People talk about other forms of slavery. The main reason why people speak of the transatlantic slave trade is due to the amount of slaves, duration, amount countries, etc again this is where reading and comprehension is crucial. Again, these are undeniable facts. You disagree? These are presented in all literature.

Cont...

[Sayai jin]

@Imalwaysright, Answer me this. Do you still see the effects of the Barbary slave trade or Egyptian slave trade? If so, to what extent? Another reason why people refer to the transatlantic slave trade is because you can see still the impact from it today. Take a look and start in South America and go north to Canada. You will still see the effects of slavery. It is multifaceted. Do I need to explain why? Another reason is that Europeans who enslaved, invaded, etc did so on a global scale. Look all over the globe, from India, North America, South America, Caribbean, etc. They stole land, committed genocide, etc for centuries.

Media, Countries, Organizations (i.e. NATO) people talk about the slavery occurring today in Africa, China, et...even down to human smuggling. You know this.

Yes, Africans, Native Americans, British, etc owned slaves and had slave like practices. It was all over the globe and throughout history. Most of those practices were more of an indentured servitude or when one tribe defeated another tribe, they would enslave the women and children instead of slaughtering them...unlike Europeans did to the Native Americans.

Some whites in America mention, but there was slavery everywhere to attempted to deflect that we are talking about the happenings in our country. You speak of the ending of slavery in different parts of the world as if I am unaware, but conveniently don't mention that those slave practices still continued well after that. Another reason why people refer to the transatlantic slave trade is the fact that Europeans and white Americans continued to cruelly treat and subjugate the descendants of those slave for 50 to 80 years past. Black Code, Jim Crow, Apartheid, etc. Some will even say that after slavery was ended in the US, that it was even worse for black Americans, because, slaves were no longer property or an asset and slave owners and their loyalists would perpetuate evil acts for decades.

The white washing of history is a "No Go" and is being called out just like all the other injustices that were for so long white washed. The chickens are coming home to roost, just look at the migration, immigration, demographic changes, etc around the globe. Certain folks don't like truth being spoke, but it will be spoke

[helghastfan]

The AfD is Germany's far right anti-immigrant, extremist political party. They won support for their views on blocking immigrants entry into Germany. They also have ties to extremist groups so I think the studio founder is talking about more than a difference of opinion.

[MoonConquistador]

Oh he is very much. Supporters and voters of the AfD have some of the core beliefs I was referring to in my above posts.

He doesn't try to hide that he's referring to their supporters in his message. But that reference at least also includes every far right political party around the globe, being German he only really highlighted the point from his own country.

Every country seems to have their own version of the AfD. Some just disguise it better than others too

[B68W]

Extremist by your partisan view. The Afd is Germany's third largest seat holding political party. A political party wanting restrictions on immigration, especially during the massive migration crisis over the last decade, does not make them extremist, nor does holding traditionalist views. Advocating for violence to achieve their political goals would make them extremists.

[dbcoops]

I find that its often those who demand acceptance, inclusion and equality like this gentleman who are the least accepting, inclusive and willing to see others as equal out of everyone.

[gamer7804]

This is the problem with taking this stance. What are “truly right values” and what is the difference between intolerant and just a worldview I don’t like. Tolerance is disagreeing but still being civil with one another, it’s not agreeing regardless…. A better idea, both realistically and financially, is just don’t engage in conversation with someone who is behaving in a manner that you view to be rude. The mean and rude part I understand the rest is basically if you disagree with them then they don’t want you as a customer, even if they have no control over that.

[DnBSkillZ]

But most publishers are assholes

[Snakeeater25]

Publisher : delay because of covid … assholes

[Riftrider]

Publisher release game to early ... Assholes.

[bloodyspasm]

I also want to pitch in how funny it is to see Mike Rose (from No More Robots) reply to people on Steam, eg when they added a rainbow flag for pride month to Descenders and someone went on a rampage because of it. Don't give assholes the platform they want and just block them/ignore them ^^

[IMissJimRyan]

Seems fair to me.

[RaiderNation]

I'm sorry but any studio with a slogan as pretentious as "Saving The World Game By Game"...is an asshole!

[Elwenil]

Particularly when this dev publishes games like Leisure Suit Larry. How exactly is that series saving the world? Are lonely nerd's socks and tissues a threat to the world somehow?

[garos82]

only a Sith deals in absolutes

[zahdab]

Ironically the name of the company is ASSemble and they don't like ASSholes

[moomoo319]

Ok you are gay and dont want homophobic ppl as customers. Makes sense. News worthy? Meanwhile the ppl who made disco elysium have a pic of Stalin hanging in their office.....

[MoonConquistador]

LOL

Not sure if the picture of Stalin thing is true or not but that was a funny statement either way.

[ElvisHuxley]

Pretty sure it would be ironic if true, I haven't finished the game yet, but it rips communism a new one.

[moomoo319]

Unfortunately it is true and unironic :/ let me ironically hang a pic of hitler in my office tho that def makes it better lmao

[Mr Logic]

It is true. Pretty sure it's not ironic since they shouted out Marx and Engels in their Game Awards acceptance speech.

[ElvisHuxley]

Then why do they make communism look horrible in the game? lol Like, it is mocked, heavily. Either they're trolling, or have zero self awareness.
@moomoo319 I'm not saying it's something I'd do, but there are some eccentric creative types out there. In a rational world, someone that praises Stalin would be shamed out of polite discussion as much or more than someone doing it to Hitler. Stalin was a paranoid psychopath and killed a lot more people than Hitler did, not that you're any less evil once the body count gets into the millions, but it is bizarre how it's perfectly acceptable to praise one and not the other.

[moomoo319]

IMO if u support any genocidal dictator u can go f*ck yourself. No amount of political wokeness circle jerking can justify that. They may be tearing dowm traditional communism in the game because they support their own brand of it, and Stalin, which is still not any better.

[dbcoops]

Reminds me of report I heard a number of years back about a Cake Decorating business that refused to make a gay couples wedding cake because of the shop owners religious beliefs or something like that. The gay couple where irate and instead of just going somewhere else they made stink about it and went to the media and the last I heard were going to fight the company in court. So they'll literally force a business to accommodate them but if you don't support the lifestyle they don't want to have anything to do with you and that's apparently ok. I'm not judging peoples lifestyle choice cause personally I don't care it doesn't effect me I just find this aspect of it super ironic.

[BrainSyphoned]

Stop looking in the mirror and you won't feel so bad.

[sourOG]

“ If you are one of those people who can’t accept others because they don’t fit your worldview”

You mean like this CEO LOL. What a weirdo.

[SlothLordPootus]

"I get to work in an industry that is truly open-minded. An industry that accepts everyone just as he or she is."

"If you are one of those people........who votes for parties.....I don't want you as a customer"

Hmmmm

[dbcoops]

Gotta love the hypocrisy.

[oldenjon]

You're going to be alienating a lot of gamers with that kind of policy. But its probably disingenuous, it's probably more like we don't want customers who aren't aligned with our values, and being an asshole in the name of social justice is sanctioned.

[ElvisHuxley]

Yeah, I don't know why every company decided it was a good idea to incessantly virtue signal. Not sure what they get out of it. One thing I do know though, it's the people constantly telling everyone how virtuous they are, and how bad the people are who don't share their politics, these people are some of the worst people I've met.

[oldenjon]

The bottom line is that being an asshole is less about your views / beliefs and more about how you treat people. I can get behind any policy that targets discrimination, harassment, persecution, bullying etc. and I feel like that is the real intention here, but it's a very thin line to walk by singling out certain groups / values instead of certain behavior, and unfortunately the behavioral aspect is often disregarded in favor of some social agenda in these situations. It's just socially acceptable hipocrisy at that point.

[Destiny1080]

John McClane:
I guess I was wrong about you. You're not such an a**hole after all.

Grant:
Oh, you were right about me. I'm just your kind of a**hole

[Aussiesummer]

I bet if the people they dislike were their main buyers they'd change their tune.

This world doesn't make sense, it's an uncomfortable chaos with flashes of nirvana you will never control or be safe from.
we're all treading water, slowly falling apart cell by cell. Reality doesn't care about you.

[MoonConquistador]

How very profound.

I'd love to hear your take on the XB v PS console wars lol

[13sentinel]

A man with a brain. Rare to find nowadays on the net. Respect

[Knightofelemia]

Those suits holy shit they stand out worse then a guy dressed up as an Xmas tree. I can be an asshole if the game is good I'll buy it if the game is crap I'll just over look it and bypass the game all together. Sounds to me this guy is an asshole coming off snobish like his shit doesn't stink. What games has this studio even made?

[staticall]

Wow, this CEO, what a defecatory orifice! Now, let me explain.

«I get to work in an industry that is truly open-minded. An industry that accepts everyone just as he or she is. Which – in my opinion – represents the truly right values – both externally and internally, an industry with its heart in the right place.»
Yet, you're not open-minded. You're saying that alienating people for their sexuality, race, skin color, religion is wrong (it is). But you're yourself alienating a group of people by their beliefs (it's not for you to decide if they're right or wrong). So you're a close-minded person and an asshole, right?
Not to mention, you basically require people to respect your opinion, but you don't respect them or their ideas.

And who will read this? I mean, people who you don't politically align with? Probably no. People who hate gays, straights, trans, christians, muslims, blacks, whites and so on? No, they don't care. So, what was the point? Just virtue signalling? Ok, i guess.
Unless that was a hidden ad for «AfD in Germany», then job well done!

[oldenjon]

delete

[Rancegamerx]

Well Said, one of the very few smart comments on this website.

[ElvisHuxley]

*eyeroll*
We get it...you're so virtuous.

[Inverno]

"you're an arse if your views are different than mine" is what I got from reading this. Last I checked lgbt, people of "colour", foreigners, and left learners can be and are some of the biggest aHoles in on this world.
You know what I really dislike people like him. What a self-righteous prick believing his views to be the only morally correct ones.

[dbcoops]

I prefer to buy my games from developers who don't feel the need to angrily shove their personal and political world views down my throat. Thanks for the rant though.

[Snakeeater25]

The reason why I hated the last of us part 2. I just want to have fun no to take interes in the sexuality of the caracter am playing

[DFresh]

So in other words they are a bunch of snowflakes ❄️ who can’t take criticism.
These guys shouldn’t take every comment so personally.
Welcome to the internet buddy.
It’s the Wild West out here.
Check your feelings at the door because nobody gives a 💩.

[anast]

"Don't buy it, if you don't like it"

[GhostScholar]

That dude needs to get over himself. Devs and publishers aren't exactly saints.

[BlindMango]

This statement is the greatest example of projection I have ever seen, lmfao

[GamingSinceForever]

I mean if the shoe fits he's talking to you.

[EternalTitan]

Okay I will never buy anything from them. They said they hate me for being the way I am. So why would I associate myself with these hateful people

[Chaos-Dad]

"If you are one of those people who can’t accept others"

Says the Dev who can't accept People from this German Party, says the Dev who can't accept other Political or Religious Views, other Cultures, other Opinions... what a Hypocrite.

[HeliosHex]

Being an Ahole is subjective. For instance if he is meaning people with an opposing view I might think he is the Ahole and not want what he is selling anyway.

[ajax17]

literally who?

[Eviltattoo]

Woke garbage. The guy who said all this said he doesn't like assholes, but clearly we know THAT'S not really true don't we?

[VariantAEC]

Lol nice one!

[Acecalibur]

That's like 98% of gamers homie.

[watchem]

a what?

[DarkKaine]

Not like I'd touch any of their games, after this statement I'll carefully make sure that any game I buy doesn't have their name associated with it in any way. While I couldn't give 2 shits where people stick their johnson, I do care about a video game company forcing political beliefs on potential consumers. This has no place in the entertainment industry whatsoever.

[Laskin]

I agree that they shouldn’t mind if bigots don’t buy their games, but I do feel from that text that they don’t only refer to truly “far right” ppl, but also just right wingers in general.
Anyway - they make horrible, shitty games from what I saw, like the extremely sexist character Larry (what about women’s rights? Why would you want that archaic rape-y IP?!) so it’s just them trying to virtue signal and score some woke points, hoping it’ll boost sales.

[MWH]

😗🍿

[RonsonPL]

He lost me at the first word about politics. I really want to be wrong here, as I have no idea what that German political party is and represents, but sounds awful lot like SJW cultist, who sees racists, nazis and devils wherever anyone dares to oppose their woke/leftist point of view. What he writes about loosing part of his consumer base would fit in this well. If he cannot understand how coming out as a political cultists can turn some people away and just generalizes and puts such a wide range of people in the same bag,
Seems like (again, I want to be wrong) just another echo-chamber idiot for whom, it doesn't matter if you're a trully toxic asshole spewing insults at the game creatro for no reason, or you are simply a person who hates the left-wing politics more than right-wing - you end up in the same bag anyway.

As I said. I want to be wrong, but this is so common I don't hold much hope, honestly.
Sad to see this politics cultism taking its toll on people I genuinly respect and like.
For example, it's painful for me to see TomSka or Jim Sterling showing their political views. Such intelligent and good people, and they're braiwashed into "one bag for eveyone" way of thinking, spewing hate towards anyone who disagrees with their only allowed view. Jim Sterling thinks everyone who's on the right is the same as internet trolls who attack him. Thomas Ridgewell clearly surrounds himself with people of exact same political opinions and now starts to see racism everywhere, even in his old videos, apologizing for no reason and getting depressed about the fact he did such a horrible thing in the past (he did nothing wrong, but is now convinced he did). Seriously. Sad.
I wish politics could stay the fuck away from gaming and entertainment in general.

[VariantAEC]

Those people weren't intelligent enough to do their own critical analysis about the outcomes of what they believe is a better system. There was no real brainwashing for them they took a feelgoodism and ran with it like any other shill.

[fitofficial]

One person's asshole is another person's game "journalist".