The CEO of Funagain Games, Jeff DeBoer, has stepped down from the position at the request of his employees. The request was made by a number of employees after comments made by DeBoer in response to Ion Game Design Marketing Director Jessica Cassady were bought to light via a Reddit thread.
How The Backlash Against DeBoer Started
DeBoer's original comments were made on a thread on the Heavy Cardboard Facebook page on 18th January 2021. The thread initially detailed Heavy Cardboard putting pressure on Ion Games to cut Phil Ecklund's future work in response to the recent controversy surrounding the designer. After Ecklund responded to the post mentioning Jessica Cassaday, DeBoer lept to Ecklund's defense with some remarks about Cassaday caring for her four children, and her being out of wedlock with her partner of several years, which have been accused of being sexist.
Since then, DeBoer has deleted his input from the Facebook thread. On January 19th the Funagain Games Twitter account began to engage in an attempt at damage control by apologizing to a post highlighting DeBoer's original comments. Fan response to these apologies has not been particularly positive, with many saying that they weren't good enough to make up for the original transgression.
The Backlash Against Funagain Games Continues
Even after removing the CEO, backlash against Funagain Games is continuing. Despite stepping down, Jeff DeBoer is still the owner of the company, so any profits on games sold will still directly support him. This has led many fans to cease supporting the company while DeBoer is still benefiting from sales. One upset fan said:
"point of clarification... with each sale on your site and with every Kickstarter fulfillment he will still be profiting correct? if that's the case I WILL NOT be buying anything from you until he is removed completely."
As of right now, things are not looking good for Funagain Games. It seems like some fans will refuse to support the company while DeBoer is involved, but as the owner there's nothing for the rest of the company to do unless he sells the company or they leave en masse to start their own.
What do you think of the DeBoer situation? Do you think Funagain Games has done enough? Let us know in the comments down below.