10 Times People TRIED To CANCEL Video Games
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VOICE OVER: Mathew Arter
WRITTEN BY: Mathew Arter
These games cause so much outrage that people actively fought to get them canceled. For this list, we're talking about games that communities tried to cancel either due to outrage, genuine complaints, or unethical elements that reverberated through a game's existence. Our list of games that offended groups tried to cancel includes "Resident Evil 5" (2009), "Hogwarts Legacy" (2023), "Diablo Immortal" (2022), "Mortal Kombat" (1992), and more!
Script written by Mathew Arter
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we are looking at 10 Times Outraged Groups Tried To CANCEL Video Games. For this list, we aren’t talking about games that were canceled in the way Silent Hills, Fable Legends and Doom 4 were canceled, we are talking about games that communities tried to cancel either due to outrage, genuine complaints, or unethical elements that reverberated through a game's existence. Do you think any of these deserved to be canceled? Let us know in the comments below, and please don’t cancel me.
At the beginning of 2023, Harry Potter fans were buzzing with excitement to get their hands on the first open world RPG set in the Harry Potter universe. The game was expected to not only be faithful to the source material, but also to just be a fantastic game in its own right. It wasn’t without its controversies however, as Harry Potter creator and writer J.K Rowling had herself been canceled. Rowling had previously questioned the use of gender inclusive language, and opposed a bill that would allow trans people access to gendered bathrooms that matched their identified gender. The game was heavily boycotted across the internet, but it didn’t seem to affect either the game’s expected sales, or reviews.
Due to the popularity of Left 4 Dead 2, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would try to cancel Valve over it, but people did, and Valve went head first into the cancellation with confidence and gusto. Shortly after the L4D2 announcement at 2009’s E3 conference, a Steam community group with tens of thousands of members was formed called “L4D2 Boycott (NO-L4D2)”. The group's main reason for the boycott was fear that Valve was abandoning Left 4 Dead 1 so soon after its release, with a sequel that didn’t match the look and tone of the original. Valve flew the two most vocal members of the group out to test the game, and it eventually released to rave reviews, and double the sales of the original. Take that, cancelers.
Even though canceling hadn’t entered the lexicon of society until very recently, there’s still a good amount of games from pre-2010 where the response of some gamers would match the current definition of ‘canceling’. One of these games was Resident Evil 5. Back in 2007, with the game shifting its location to Africa, many gamers had a negative reaction to the first trailer (and even throughout the actual game) as it featured a white protagonist killing a lot of black characters. The game was also accused of featuring the outdated stereotype of “savage” Africans needing a white savior. The game marked a heavy decline in the series, especially when comparing it to the previous numbered entry. Whether or not this community outrage had an impact is unclear. We may find out if and when an RE5 Remake comes out.
Grand Theft Auto is not immune to cancellation and boycotting, and with different entries in the series being canceled in particular countries, it’s clear to see that the cancellations sometimes work. GTAV came under scrutiny in 2013, due to a mission in the main campaign that forced players to torture a character in some very brutal ways. This mission was not skippable, and had to be done. Almost every reviewer pointed this moment out for one reason or another, most citing it as a little tone deaf and unnecessary. This didn’t result in any clear cancelation attempts, but the community did plead to Rockstar to make the mission skippable... At this point however, it’s still unskippable.
Imagine creating such a community stir, that an entire organization was created just because of you? That’s pretty sick. Mortal Kombat was one of the most controversial game releases of all time, and easily the most graphic video game of its time. Sega gave the game a ‘mature’ rating on the box, but this didn’t stop congress from addressing the controversy around the games violence, by stating that if gaming companies didn’t create a universal rating board to oversee the classification of all games, they would do it themselves. Nobody wanted congress to be in charge of video game classification, so the Entertainment Software Rating Board (or ESRB) was created.
Here’s one that almost had a successful cancelation. Hatred was a game that didn’t follow the required steps of good writing, or the creation of a full and engaging universe. If you want the player to engage in hateful acts and widespread violence, give them inspiration, give them a character driven with motivation. Hatred was a game that had one goal, engage in a mass “genocide crusade” across New York City, and kill as many innocent people as possible. The game was not sellable in stores, and with the community outrage being substantial, it was eventually pulled from sale on Steam as well. This pull, however, was only temporary, as the game was later reinstated.
Dead or Alive is not a series for everyone. The game has always purposely pushed the boundaries of what's appropriate, featuring unrealistic women with as little clothes as possible. The VR mode for Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 (which was decidedly not released to the West due to outrage), took things to a whole new gross level, allowing players to grab and touch the in-game girls against their will. These acts were accompanied by sounds of discomfort and protest from the NPCs affected. The game was accused of “violent and aggressive sexual assault” and was clearly, and effectively canceled by Western audiences.
Boycotting and canceling go hand in hand, and when it comes to boycotting, there is probably no more significant recorded boycotting moment, than during the Diablo Immortal announcement at Blizzcon 2018. Last up in the lineup of game reveals, the Blizzard team decided to announce a mobile game instead of a PC title to end their conference, and Diablo fans and Blizzard fans alike were not particularly happy with the move to mobile, leading to one of the funniest moments in con history, when the game’s lead designer said “Do you guys not have phones?” The game set a record as the worst reviewed game in Blizzard’s history with a user score of 0.2/10. Immortality doesn’t work that well.
There may not be a more significant community response to a game in gaming history. The Last of Us Part II popularized the term “review bombing” with thousands of 0/10 reviews coming in within the first hours of the game dropping. Although realistically, there are bound to be many who just genuinely didn’t enjoy the game (as it is with all games), it did seem, however, that a good portion of the negative reviews were also making negative comments towards the game’s two female leads. With comments ranging from subtle to blatant misogyny and homophobia, the internet was stirred up something fierce. The actress who played Abby was the subject of brutal death threats, and during this time the community response had officially reached its ugliest point. When all is said and done, The Last of Us Part II became PlayStation's third highest grossing game of all time, won Game of The Year in 2020, and played an important role in game development history. The game has about 20% more 10/10 reviews than it does 0/10, and also became profitable on day 1 of release, showing that it was as equally successful as it was divisive.
We LOVE a historical moment, whether it’s getting a man on the moon, or having Reddit's most downvoted comment of all time. This game was expected to be the launch of the century, with fans being more in love with the series than ever. But once fans found out that EA was implementing and relying on loot boxes in a system that made multiplayer ‘pay to win’, the game was destroyed and panned by players, and resulted in some countries' governments stepping in to assess the legalities of what was happening. When EA tried to explain themselves via a comment on a Battlefront thread, they were so downvoted that they managed to get in the Guiness Book of World Records… Good lord. The game has tried since release to crawl out of the mud it was buried in, but has had minimal success, with its last update all the way back in 2020.
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we are looking at 10 Times Outraged Groups Tried To CANCEL Video Games. For this list, we aren’t talking about games that were canceled in the way Silent Hills, Fable Legends and Doom 4 were canceled, we are talking about games that communities tried to cancel either due to outrage, genuine complaints, or unethical elements that reverberated through a game's existence. Do you think any of these deserved to be canceled? Let us know in the comments below, and please don’t cancel me.
Hogwarts Legacy
At the beginning of 2023, Harry Potter fans were buzzing with excitement to get their hands on the first open world RPG set in the Harry Potter universe. The game was expected to not only be faithful to the source material, but also to just be a fantastic game in its own right. It wasn’t without its controversies however, as Harry Potter creator and writer J.K Rowling had herself been canceled. Rowling had previously questioned the use of gender inclusive language, and opposed a bill that would allow trans people access to gendered bathrooms that matched their identified gender. The game was heavily boycotted across the internet, but it didn’t seem to affect either the game’s expected sales, or reviews.
Left 4 Dead 2
Due to the popularity of Left 4 Dead 2, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would try to cancel Valve over it, but people did, and Valve went head first into the cancellation with confidence and gusto. Shortly after the L4D2 announcement at 2009’s E3 conference, a Steam community group with tens of thousands of members was formed called “L4D2 Boycott (NO-L4D2)”. The group's main reason for the boycott was fear that Valve was abandoning Left 4 Dead 1 so soon after its release, with a sequel that didn’t match the look and tone of the original. Valve flew the two most vocal members of the group out to test the game, and it eventually released to rave reviews, and double the sales of the original. Take that, cancelers.
Resident Evil 5
Even though canceling hadn’t entered the lexicon of society until very recently, there’s still a good amount of games from pre-2010 where the response of some gamers would match the current definition of ‘canceling’. One of these games was Resident Evil 5. Back in 2007, with the game shifting its location to Africa, many gamers had a negative reaction to the first trailer (and even throughout the actual game) as it featured a white protagonist killing a lot of black characters. The game was also accused of featuring the outdated stereotype of “savage” Africans needing a white savior. The game marked a heavy decline in the series, especially when comparing it to the previous numbered entry. Whether or not this community outrage had an impact is unclear. We may find out if and when an RE5 Remake comes out.
Grand Theft Auto V
Grand Theft Auto is not immune to cancellation and boycotting, and with different entries in the series being canceled in particular countries, it’s clear to see that the cancellations sometimes work. GTAV came under scrutiny in 2013, due to a mission in the main campaign that forced players to torture a character in some very brutal ways. This mission was not skippable, and had to be done. Almost every reviewer pointed this moment out for one reason or another, most citing it as a little tone deaf and unnecessary. This didn’t result in any clear cancelation attempts, but the community did plead to Rockstar to make the mission skippable... At this point however, it’s still unskippable.
Mortal Kombat
Imagine creating such a community stir, that an entire organization was created just because of you? That’s pretty sick. Mortal Kombat was one of the most controversial game releases of all time, and easily the most graphic video game of its time. Sega gave the game a ‘mature’ rating on the box, but this didn’t stop congress from addressing the controversy around the games violence, by stating that if gaming companies didn’t create a universal rating board to oversee the classification of all games, they would do it themselves. Nobody wanted congress to be in charge of video game classification, so the Entertainment Software Rating Board (or ESRB) was created.
Hatred
Here’s one that almost had a successful cancelation. Hatred was a game that didn’t follow the required steps of good writing, or the creation of a full and engaging universe. If you want the player to engage in hateful acts and widespread violence, give them inspiration, give them a character driven with motivation. Hatred was a game that had one goal, engage in a mass “genocide crusade” across New York City, and kill as many innocent people as possible. The game was not sellable in stores, and with the community outrage being substantial, it was eventually pulled from sale on Steam as well. This pull, however, was only temporary, as the game was later reinstated.
Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 VR Mode
Dead or Alive is not a series for everyone. The game has always purposely pushed the boundaries of what's appropriate, featuring unrealistic women with as little clothes as possible. The VR mode for Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 (which was decidedly not released to the West due to outrage), took things to a whole new gross level, allowing players to grab and touch the in-game girls against their will. These acts were accompanied by sounds of discomfort and protest from the NPCs affected. The game was accused of “violent and aggressive sexual assault” and was clearly, and effectively canceled by Western audiences.
Diablo Immortal
Boycotting and canceling go hand in hand, and when it comes to boycotting, there is probably no more significant recorded boycotting moment, than during the Diablo Immortal announcement at Blizzcon 2018. Last up in the lineup of game reveals, the Blizzard team decided to announce a mobile game instead of a PC title to end their conference, and Diablo fans and Blizzard fans alike were not particularly happy with the move to mobile, leading to one of the funniest moments in con history, when the game’s lead designer said “Do you guys not have phones?” The game set a record as the worst reviewed game in Blizzard’s history with a user score of 0.2/10. Immortality doesn’t work that well.
The Last of Us Part II
There may not be a more significant community response to a game in gaming history. The Last of Us Part II popularized the term “review bombing” with thousands of 0/10 reviews coming in within the first hours of the game dropping. Although realistically, there are bound to be many who just genuinely didn’t enjoy the game (as it is with all games), it did seem, however, that a good portion of the negative reviews were also making negative comments towards the game’s two female leads. With comments ranging from subtle to blatant misogyny and homophobia, the internet was stirred up something fierce. The actress who played Abby was the subject of brutal death threats, and during this time the community response had officially reached its ugliest point. When all is said and done, The Last of Us Part II became PlayStation's third highest grossing game of all time, won Game of The Year in 2020, and played an important role in game development history. The game has about 20% more 10/10 reviews than it does 0/10, and also became profitable on day 1 of release, showing that it was as equally successful as it was divisive.
Star Wars Battlefront II
We LOVE a historical moment, whether it’s getting a man on the moon, or having Reddit's most downvoted comment of all time. This game was expected to be the launch of the century, with fans being more in love with the series than ever. But once fans found out that EA was implementing and relying on loot boxes in a system that made multiplayer ‘pay to win’, the game was destroyed and panned by players, and resulted in some countries' governments stepping in to assess the legalities of what was happening. When EA tried to explain themselves via a comment on a Battlefront thread, they were so downvoted that they managed to get in the Guiness Book of World Records… Good lord. The game has tried since release to crawl out of the mud it was buried in, but has had minimal success, with its last update all the way back in 2020.
