A critical report has revealed several alleged incidents at Life Is Strange developer Deck Nine, including one involving hidden Nazi symbols.
Developer Deck Nine is known for making thoughtful and progressive games, especially in the Life Is Strange series, but it appears that there is a very different atmosphere behind the scenes at the studio.
The studio is currently working on the next, unannounced, instalment in the Life Is Strange series, following their work on 2021’s Life Is Strange: True Colors which was highly praised for its LGBTQ+ representation.
A new report, however, has highlighted how staff at the studio have become increasingly concerned about Deck Nine’s management – following an incident where developers found references to numerous hate symbols while working on the new game.
According to a IGN report, staff at Deck Nine found references to the number 88 – a number often used as a symbol by Neo-Nazis – in the project early last year. After it was flagged to their bosses, other references were discovered, including a racist meme, the number 18 (another Neo-Nazi code), and a Hagal rune.
When these issues were flagged with management, it’s claimed ‘weeks turned into months’ and the assets remain unchanged – leading to growing concerns among staff that the game was being used to promote hate speech.
‘To put that in this game in particular feels targeted,’ an anonymous source at the studio said. ‘It feels like a way to say, ‘You don’t get to have this either.’…. It’s not a little thing. If you meant it as a joke, it doesn’t matter. It reads the same.’
According to the report, the issue wasn’t addressed by management until months later in August, with Deck Nine CEO Mark Lyons stating that they had removed the symbols and that it was ‘not an intentional action’.
Another investigation into the incident has reportedly begun with the assistance of a Denver-based law firm, but no details have been shared since with the staff, as to how the symbols got there in the first place.
‘Regardless of intent, we will not tolerate any form of hate speech in the games,’ Lyons is said to have told staff. ‘It doesn’t matter if we accidentally put such symbols in the game, unaware of their meaning, if some segment of our audience perceive them to be espousing hate speech.’
This incident, however, is only one case of alleged mismanagement at the studio, with other employees claiming general toxic behaviour, harassment, and that crunch culture is also rife.
There’re also claims that publisher Square Enix were ‘outright hostile’ to the idea of having diverse themes and ideas in Life Is Strange: True Colors, because they didn’t want it to be classed as a ‘gay game’. This stance, however, allegedly changed when that aspect was heavily praised in early reviews.
‘Even in our press guides from Square Enix, all the way up until [review copies were out], we were not to say anything about Alex’s sexuality, period, at all,’ Mallory Littleton, former narrative designer at Deck Nine said.
'And then they made the early copies, and many reviews came out saying how great it was to finally see a main character who is explicitly bisexual, and after that, Square said, just joking. Alex is definitely, officially, 100% bisexual.'
Square Enix chose not to respond to the report.
In response to the accusations, Deck Nine stated that they are implementing ‘official anti-hate speech training’ and new development tools to ensure that all images or symbols will undergo ‘additional examination for potentially abusive or hateful expressions and will be properly identified and evaluated to prevent unintentional inclusion’.
Deck Nine experienced layoffs earlier this year, which affected 20% of its employees, and cited the ‘deteriorating market conditions in the game industry’ as the reason.
It’s been said that development is ‘going well’ on the next Life Is Strange game despite the setbacks, but it’s not clear when it will be officially announced.
