Weeding Out the Ideologues Who are Poisoning the Gaming Industry ...and Ultimately Exposing Remedy Games As Anti-Gamer.
Here we go again... finding normal folks in the crosshairs of yet another crazed social justice crusade. This time, it’s Vida Starčević, the Senior Community Manager for Remedy Entertainment, who somehow still has a job after years of insane tweets attacking the very community she works for... and now - publicly called for "bigots" to be removed from gaming communities following the shutdown of Firewalk Studios' game, Concord.
What...?
Side Note: WTF is the deal with Community Managers, btw? This trend of crazed-lunatics seems all too consistent... This one takes the cake, though. Here's her in an interview with Gamespot if you really want to see how nuts this loose screw is.
With Concord crashing and burning, Starčević’s reaction reflects a troubling recurrence among industry insiders like Daniel Ahmad, who are always so quick to blame the community instead of addressing their own personal failures... So let's begin where this all started:
Failing Games, Blame the Community?
Starčević worked on Sweet Baby Inc. project: Alan Wake 2 - and she decided to take to social media to try and amplify calls for weeding out “bad actors” in the gaming community, using language explicitly targeting anyone who opposed her own personal views. She followed similar sentiments expressed by others, such as Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research at Niko Partners, who exposed himself as a bit off this week with the whole Concord collapse. He had claimed that criticisms of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are part of a “conspiracy-focused narrative,” Starčević doubled down by pushing for an ideological purge within gaming circles. Ahmad even went so far as to accuse right-wing gamers of “collective self-deception” and “standard bigotry,” while Starčević echoed these sentiments, advocating for the removal of anyone she deems a “bigot” from gaming spaces.
Bute before we get to the present day, lets travel back to Jan 29th, 2024:
The warning signs were there. Nothing was done, and now, a crazy person has spiraled out of control and is actively destroying any semblance of good will for the company she works for at Remedy.
This rhetoric has become all too familiar in recent years: when a game fails, it is somehow always the fault of the community, not the product itself. It’s always a convenient scapegoat that easily distracts from the actual glaring reality that many games, like Alan Wake 2, are failing to connect with their intended audiences.
The Hypocrisy Behind the Calls for “Purity”
Ironically, Starčević's own career at Remedy seems to be a manifestation of those very prejudices she claims to despise. Madam Savvy came through with a banger tweet about how she wouldn't have worked for Remedy if their game Control had featured a male protagonist.
In her words, “A very important part of me taking the job was that it was a game in which you played as a woman.” This is discrimination, pure and simple — a refusal to work based on the gender of a fictional character. She also pushed to amplify the anti-gamer (pro-activist) group TakeThis.org in order to try and help them get additional funding.
Starčević has been vocal about pushing for certain racial and gender quotas in her professional role, expressing frustration that influencer agencies were sending her pitches “wall to wall white men” and urging them to “do better.”
Her actions reveal a clear bias against certain demographics, yet she has the audacity to call for "bigots" to be removed from the industry.
Remedy’s Financial Struggles Speak Volumes
Starčević’s own employer, Remedy Entertainment, is struggling to turn a profit on Alan Wake 2, a game that has not recovered its development and marketing costs nearly a year after its release. As I covered previously, the company’s financial reports revealed that Alan Wake 2 has sold only 1.3 million copies and still has not generated royalties. Remedy even stopped sharing sales figures after these disappointing numbers, an indication that the game is far from being the hit they had hoped for.
Yet, instead of introspection and considering why the game failed to resonate with a broader audience, Starčević chose to double down on a divisive narrative, attempting to shift the blame onto the community itself.
Time to Weed Out the Real “Bad Actors”
The issue here is not just one individual's misguided ideology. It is a pervasive problem in today’s gaming industry. The tendency to blame the gaming community whenever a product fails, instead of critically evaluating the product itself, is not only dishonest but also damaging.
The reality is that Alan Wake 2 and games like Concord failed because they did not connect with the audiences they were targeting. Gamers don’t want to be lectured or vilified; they want to be entertained.
We need to start weeding out these ideologues who are poisoning the gaming industry with their divisive and exclusionary rhetoric. Instead of focusing on the merits of their games, they resort to name-calling and blame-shifting, all while hiding behind a façade of inclusivity. Oh and shocker - she's anti-capitalism...
The industry needs professionals who can listen to their audience and create content that truly resonates, not those who engage in petty power struggles over ideology.
Still Zero Accountability
It’s time for gamers to demand accountability from those in positions of power within the industry. We must make it clear that we won’t tolerate these ideologues who aim to divide us, distract from their own failures, and turn our beloved pastime into a battleground for their social justice crusades.
There's legitimate frustration with the current direction of the gaming industry, where some so called "insiders" seem more focused on pushing divisive ideologies and virtue signaling rather than creating games that resonate with players. This is where the lack of professionalism grows and a disregard for the core audience's interests are leading to the failure of several recent titles.
The Great Enabler: Remedy Games
Let's take a look at Remedy games here - Because let's be real: Remedy Games is a complete mess.
Sam Lake, a Writer. Director for Remedy Games - Most notably, Max Payne, but also Alan Wake... Sides with these crazies. As we see below, he supports resident lunatic Alyssa Mercante and donated to her proven scam 'Trans Lifeline' "Charity" for virtue signal points:
Much of the community was not the biggest fan of this move by Sam...
It's one big club, and you aren't in it:
Indie Savior?
There's a hope that indie developers will resist these trends and maintain their creative freedom, but also a concern that ideological influences could spread further. The industry should prioritize making great games that engage players, rather than promoting agendas that alienate them...
In the end, the market speaks louder than any tweet or post. If the likes of Starčević continue to alienate the core gaming community, they may soon find themselves on the outside looking in. It’s time for a new era in gaming — one where the community’s voice is not only heard but respected.
~Smash