🚨 GAMING GRIEF WAVE: Ghost Of Yotei BOYCOTT BOMBSHELL – Dev Fired Over Kirk Joke, Trailer TANKED by Rage Reviews! 🎮😤
Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Yotei – the Hokkaido samurai sequel hyped for October 2 glory – is under siege: Senior artist Drew Harrison axed after her Bluesky quip (“Hope the shooter’s Mario so Luigi’s got his back”) post-Kirk’s tragic Utah rally shooting. Sony confirms: “No longer with us.” Now, fans flood the trailer with “RIP Charlie” spam – 25K dislikes vs 13K likes, pre-orders cratering 22%. Enter Ready or Not: Tactical shooter review-bombed to “Mixed” on Steam after devs’ “tone-deaf” posts celebrating Kirk’s death surface – “Nothing of value lost,” one sneered. Boycotts marching: From Tsushima triumph to tragedy trigger, gaming’s woke wars rage on – devs doxxed, studios scrambling. Is this free speech fallout or fascist flex? The blade’s dulling…
The hunt’s haunting… Unpack the deleted posts, firing frenzy, and boycott blueprint – click before the servers scrub! 👉
The feudal fringes of gaming’s open worlds, where katanas carve vengeance and tactical squads breach shadows, have become battlegrounds for a very real war: one waged not with pixels but with posts, petitions, and pre-order pullouts. Sucker Punch Productions’ Ghost of Yotei, the long-awaited sequel to the 20 million-selling Ghost of Tsushima, finds itself at the epicenter of a boycott storm after the studio fired senior character artist Drew Harrison over a Bluesky joke about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Mere days later, tactical shooter Ready or Not endured a review-bombing blitz on Steam, its “Very Positive” rating cratering to “Mixed” amid unearthed developer comments dismissing Kirk’s death as “nothing of value lost.” As these titles—slated for October 2 and already in late beta—face coordinated fury from Kirk’s supporters, the gaming industry braces for a prolonged siege, with doxxing campaigns, dev firings, and sales sabotage signaling an escalation of the culture wars that have simmered since Gamergate.
Kirk’s fatal shooting on September 10—a single round to the chest from suspect Tyler Robinson during a Utah Valley University rally on “woke indoctrination”—ignited a national inferno. The 31-year-old Turning Point USA co-founder, whose viral debates mobilized millions for conservative causes, collapsed before 2,000 students, dying en route to the hospital and leaving wife Erika and two young children. Vigils drew 12,000 in Phoenix alone, with congressional tributes and a Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously awarded by Donald Trump. Yet online, the grief fractured: right-wing influencers like Mark Kern (“Grummz”) unearthed “insensitive” posts from devs, while left-leaning users resurfaced Kirk’s rhetoric on affirmative action and gun violence. Harrison’s September 10 Bluesky entry—”I hope the shooter’s name is Mario so Luigi knows his bro got his back”—a dark twist blending the tragedy with the UnitedHealthcare CEO killing and Nintendo lore, drew 1,200 likes before deletion. Screenshots exploded on X, where Kern’s thread (“Sucker Punch senior dev celebrates Charlie Kirk’s death”) racked 1.5 million views, demanding her ouster and a Yotei boycott. Anonymous calls flooded the studio—echoing 2023’s Sweet Baby Inc. harassment—prompting Sony’s confirmation September 12: “Drew Harrison is no longer an employee of Sucker Punch Productions.”
Harrison, a 10-year texture and lookdev artist whose work etched Tsushima’s Kurosawa vistas, updated her LinkedIn September 12: “No longer at Sucker Punch—excited for what’s next.” On Bluesky, she fired back: “If standing up against fascism is what cost me my dream job… I’d do it again 100x stronger,” framing the exit as resistance and urging support for activist groups over personal pity. The defiance galvanized left-leaning gamers: r/Games threads topped 3,800 upvotes decrying “right-wing cancel culture,” with mods banning 200 for “hate speech.” Yet Kern and YouTuber TheQuartering amplified the hunt, doxxing Harrison’s voice actress Erika Ishii (Atsu) and combing LinkedIn for “woke” hires. #BoycottGhostOfYotei surged to 1.8 million posts, with pre-orders dipping 22 percent week-over-week per Circana—reversing a 40 percent trailer spike. The September 16 trailer—showcasing Atsu’s Hokkaido vengeance with dynamic weather and fox allies—drowned in “RIP Charlie Kirk” spam, flipping likes to 13,000 against 25,000 dislikes on YouTube (1.2 million views).
Sucker Punch, Bellevue’s 300-strong samurai forge behind Infamous and Tsushima’s triumph, now hunkers amid the siege. Yotei, a PS5 exclusive promising refined parries and mythic quests, risks a polarized premiere: early access buzz clashes with canceled pre-orders (28 percent refund spike in Texas/Florida). Creative director Jason Connell dodged in a September 17 IGN Q&A: “Yotei’s about Atsu’s honor—vengeance, healing.” Insiders report an “HR audit”: two producers and a writer, whose likes on Harrison’s post surfaced via doxxing, face reviews—echoing Blizzard’s Overwatch ousters and SEGA’s Like a Dragon suspensions post-Kirk. Sony, eyeing $100 million global haul, reiterates its code: “Inclusive environments—no hate.” The backlash evokes Concord’s 2025 flop from “woke” wars, with PEN America warning of “chilling effects” on expression.
The fury spilled to Ready or Not, VOID Interactive’s tactical FPS revived from early access hell. The shooter, praised for SWAT sim realism (92 percent RT), endured a Steam review-bomb September 13: “Mostly Negative” recent rating after unearthed dev comments like “Nothing of value lost” on Kirk’s death. The post, from community manager Sean Hamill, tied to a Discord vent: “Kirk’s hate speech? Good riddance.” Reviews flooded with “RIP Charlie” one-stars, dropping concurrent players 35 percent to 12,000—halving July peaks. VOID’s before-after screenshots September 18 defended “censorship fixes” for consoles but addressed the bomb: “Misinformation and grief—our hearts with Erika Kirk.” Hamill’s on leave; the studio, indie with 50 staff, faces doxxing from Kern’s 500,000 followers.
The boycotts signal Gamergate 2.0: 50+ ousters post-Kirk—from MSNBC’s Dowd to DC’s Felker-Martin—per PEN. r/Games bans 200 for hate; The Gamer calls it “right-wing triumph.” For Erika Kirk, the venom salts wounds: her $2.4M scholarship swells, but Turning Point’s O’Neil laments: “Mockery dishonors families—boycotts honor Charlie.” In Bellevue’s labs, Harrison’s textures fade; Yotei’s dawn breaks shadowed. Gaming’s feuds remind: every post parries peril. For the hunted, the quest endures—in code, conviction’s unyielding blade.
