There are multiple collector’s editions of Dead Island Riptide being produced worldwide, but the UK one caught the eye of many a blogger and tweeter this morning, due to its bikini-focused statuette.
No arms, no face, no legs-- just boobs. The statue in question was only for the “Zombie Bait” edition in the UK.
The outrage was quick and pointed, and it seemed inevitable publisher Deep Silver would be forced to respond, especially since this wasn’t an international promotion.
Deep Silver has since issued an apology. The statement in full:
“We deeply apologize for any offense caused by the Dead Island Riptide “Zombie Bait Edition”, the collector’s edition announced for Europe and Australia. Like many gaming companies, Deep Silver has many offices in different countries, which is why sometimes different versions of Collector’s Editions come into being for North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
For the limited run of the Zombie Bait Edition for Europe and Australia, a decision was made to include a gruesome statue of a zombie torso, which was cut up like many of our fans had done to the undead enemies in the original Dead Island.
We sincerely regret this choice. We are collecting feedback continuously from the Dead Island community, as well as the international gaming community at large, for ongoing internal meetings with Deep Silver's entire international team today. For now, we want to reiterate to the community, fans and industry how deeply sorry we are, and that we are committed to making sure this will never happen again.”
Here's the problem with this statement: it doesn't even begin to address how this even happened in the first place. The deeper problem with the video game industry isn't that it makes mistakes that result in offensive, sexist incidents like this one, it's a lack of transparency and reflection on how this could be allowed to happen.
It's also unclear if Deep Silver is still planning to offer this bundle. The statement doesn't touch that. I've asked.
You can make the argument that no one would be outraged if this was a male torso with the same lack of bodily features, but c'mon. It’s different when it’s a woman, this is over the line, and Deep Silver should have known better.