The recent MORDHAU controversy has been causing a bit of a stir and the developers have decided to release an official statement on the matter, planning to "improve" on some of the perceived issues with the game.
A PC Gamer article claims that there is "rampant racism and toxicity" in MORDHAU, a game similar to Chivalry: Medieval Warfare that was originally created for the more dedicated portions of the community. The article lists (among other things) a thread that uses a modified racial epithet in its title on the game's official forums, an offensive comment by a user, and a handful complaints from the game's subreddit.
The game's developers addressed the MORDHAU controversy in a post on their forums, chalking it up in part to two inexperienced developers out of their team of 11 who had "minimal PR experience".
"First and foremost, Triternion does not, nor have we ever, had plans to add a customization option that would force a white male default," reads a portion of the statement on their forums. "This is an absurd idea that stems from a misunderstanding in a recent interview by PC Gamer with two of our artists. These artists, both uninvolved with character development went into a verbal interview with minimal PR experience and ended up answering some of the questions in a misleading way, which combined with a lack of context, led to some very controversial statements. Again, we at Triternion do not, nor have we ever had any plans to implement any kind of ethnicity toggle on potential future character ethnicity customization additions."
The developers go on to address other criticisms brought up in the PC Gamer article and on other sites. One such issue is a request for female characters in the game. A "gender toggle" option was highlighted in the original interview as a possibility, but this was an idea that was ultimately canned. "Our official stance is that these toggle options are out of the question."
As for the issue of community toxicity, the developers state that their team is overextended with their current workload and is unlikely to be able to moderate things to their "intended level of standards".
For the moment, the MORDHAU controversy appears to be less of a focus for the developers as compared to creating content for their game. If you're keen on brutal medieval combat and you'd like to grab a copy for yourself, you can pick it up on Steam for $29.99 or your regional equivalent.
What do you think of the MORDHAU controversy? Should the developers moderate their game more heavily or is the built-in mute function enough to handle the problem? Let us know in the comments below!
