Numerous international conglomerates across western markets have realized that their efforts to force feed the public woke ideology through propagandized products and advertising have failed miserably. DEI programs are being shut down en masse, woke content is being buried or canceled and activist employees are being fired. The sudden shift after almost a decade of social justice insanity is thanks in large part to customer boycotts and steady online criticism.
In other words, customer feedback and the free market still work to some extent and companies have been forced to listen. However, there are people who refuse to read the room and they continue to double down on their failing DEI policies; video game companies have been notoriously incompetent in this regard.
It may be a side effect of the industry’s development time table – Gaming companies often take 5 years or more to create a single game title. This means that products being release today were on the drawing board back in 2020 (or before). The great downfall of injecting extreme politics into your media is that this immediately dates your marketing. Things you might have gotten away with in 2020 will get your company scrapped in 2025.
Corporations like Square Enix, once a hugely successful outfit best known for their Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts titles, took a gamble on woke policies and now they face a consumer atmosphere which is fed up with leftist propaganda. They may be stuck with a cavalcade of games that are likely to be destroyed by critics and gamers alike if any DEI related messaging remains.
This notion does not sit well with the progressive activists that have invaded the gaming space in recent years and they are especially hostile to the idea that they are required by the free market to listen to customer demands. Corporations have been losing the culture war and have faced exponential profit losses (which is why so many of them are changing their rhetoric). Square Enix, on the other hand, has reportedly decided that they will “set the rules” for engagement and control what customers and critics are allowed to say and do.
This month the company announced a new “group customer harassment policy” which outlines how gamers may and may not interact with Square Enix employees and representatives, in the real world or online. They are also declaring that certain kinds of criticism revolving around specific policies is not allowed. Many of these policies are related to DEI hiring as well as woke messaging.
The game developer claims it is taking a stance against those who would harass its employees and partners, including everyone from support staff members to as high up the corporate ladder as its executives. The policy states that while Square Enix wants feedback from its fans and customers, “customer harassment” and “undue demand” are unacceptable and could be met with denial of services or legal action.
The company defines consumer harassment as:
Act of violence, violent behavior.
Abusive language, intimidation, coercion, duress, excessive pursuit or reprimand.
Defamation/slander, denial of personality, personal attack (including email, contact in contact form, comment or post on the internet), advance notice of wrongdoing, advance notice of obstruction of business.
Persistent inquiries, repeated visits.
Trespassing by visiting or staying in an office or related facility without permission.
Unlawful restraint including via telephone calls and online inquiries.
Discriminatory speech and conduct regarding race, ethnicity, religion, family origin, occupation, etc.
Infringement of privacy by taking pictures or making video recordings without consent.
Sexual harassment, stalking, repeated stalking behavior.
They define undue demand as:
Unreasonable changes or exchange of product or request for monetary compensation
Unreasonable response or request for an apology (including face-to-face response or request for an apology specifying the position of our employee or partners)
Excessive requests for the provision of products and services exceeding socially accepted norms
Unreasonable and excessive demands for punishment of our employees
Some of these rules are common sense, but there are already laws against violent behavior and stalking. A company declaring that they won’t tolerate these actions is meaningless. Square Enix has no power to enforce policy. They can only report violations to authorities and let them decide if a crime has been committed.
On the other hand, some of the Square Enix declarations are absurd. For instance, “denial of personality” (ostensibly referring to denial of gender or ethnic identity) is arbitrary and not an offense that can be litigated, at least not in most countries. They also can’t sue a customer for “excessive” complaints or inquiries, nor can they sue for discriminatory speech. Gaming companies have no power to silence dissent and such proclamations are meaningless.
That said, these kinds of public statements do give us insight into the mind of a company’s leadership and also how desperate they are. The effectiveness of consumer criticism online is proven. In the past any effort to generate a boycott of a business or product because of wokeness was immediately attacked by the mainstream media as fringe and extremist. Today, we know that anti-woke is the majority, not the minority.
Leftist gaming journalists are applauding the Square Enix decision as a way to counter what they consider a “wave of bigotry” in the market which found its impetus in the “Gamergate” movement. In truth, Gamergate was a reaction to the subversive takeover of the industry by leftist activists hellbent on forcing their beliefs on the world using popular media as a vehicle. Leftists accused gamers of “bigotry and misogyny” as a way to deflect from the exposure of their agenda.
In 2025 the gamers have the upper hand and are far better organized. DEI gaming products are now exposed many months before they are released and social media allows customers to press for answers from company employees and executives directly. If Square Enix can’t stand the heat, then they should get out of the kitchen and close up shop.
With social media platforms like X (and perhaps Facebook) ending censorship of criticism against the far-left, the veil has been lifted and the illusion that leftists are the majority is collapsing. The only thing for woke corporations to do is to capitulate, or, try to frighten customers into staying silent.
The woke model for customer relations tries to flip the dynamic, asserting that the consumer is beholden to the company. Woke developers from Hollywood to Silicon Valley and beyond act as if they own the public – The reality is that the public owns them and always will. Corporations can intimidate all they want, but they can’t force customers to buy from them and they can’t stop the public from speaking out.
Loading…
Read the full article here