In this global and polarized era, Political news sometimes transcends video games. This is what happened to Ghost of Yotei after the murder of activist Charlie Kirk.
Kirk’s death was celebrated on social media by millions of people; among them, those of Drew Harrison, one of the developers of the latest Sucker Punch game.
Despite having been with the company for a decade, his dismissal was sudden. Now, Two months after the incident, Harrison wants to give his version.
Everything about Ghost of Yotei, the new open-world adventure for PS5, set 300 years before Ghost of Tsushima, which will go on sale on October 2nd.
Drew Harrison opens up about his dismissal from Sucker Punch
Aftermath includes statements from Drew Harrison, who explains How he experienced his dismissal and the online campaign that led to it.
BlueSky comments on how “I hope the shooter’s name is Mario, so Luigi knows his brother has his back.” were what generated waves of criticism against Harrison.
“I thought it would be their fun for the day. Nobody usually pays attention to these people“They are dedicated to harassing for fun”says Harrison.
But the matter went much further. According to Drew, Sucker Punch started receiving so many protest callsthat employees were asked to disconnect their phones from their desks.
“I pissed off the worst kind of internet”Harrison said in the studio’s internal chat. “As an excuse, you have banana muffins in the kitchen.”.
The critical sector organized a boycott campaign against Ghost of Yotei. They were unable to stop the game from becoming a bestseller; but they got Sucker Punch to act.
This is what they reflected in the chat: “Due to a staff member’s post, We have a delicate situation on our hands”.
“We may have to pause a trailer release. Please, be aware of how you represent yourself online”.
Immediately, the human resources department met with Harrison to inform him of his dismissal because was “inciting violence” with his comments about Charlie Kirk.
However, the designer guarantees that she would have offered to apologize publicly, but no one proposed it. They didn’t even ask him to delete his comments..
“The joke was not in good taste”he admits. “But I was ready to apologize and work with HR to write a public apology.”
Harrison adds that no one from Sony, nor Sucker Punch leadershipI contacted her before of his dismissal.
Harrison’s firing didn’t hurt Ghost of Yotei’s success: The game has just released a content update and will receive a new game mode in 2026.
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