Nazis seem to ,unfortunately, be making a come back in the real world and Charlottesville is still very fresh on everyone's minds. I was curious if you duders think recent events will make an impact on this Nazi focused game. Could things get censored?

Absolutely do not get the logic jump and get why something would be censored. I'm not sure people realize for example that even CoD WWII is not censored in this regard in its singlepalyer only multiplayer.

This game in particular... what do you think they retcon the entire first game now and it's not about Nazis? I think a good number of people are down with hating Nazis right now.

No?

If anything, recent events would probably inspire a few more people to buy the game.

@artisanbreads: It's not like there hasn't been a precedent for this. Before GTA 3 came out they removed a plane flying mission because of 9/11. And I'm not saying that they would retcon anything. Maybe they'd tone down the Nazi imagery.

I mean, I guess people would really be down to kill Nazis, even more than usual now, so maybe it'll help sales? I'd bet nothing gets cut. Americans love violence against Nazis.

violence against nazis is tight as hell

If it affected anything I would assume it would be FC5. Since its about neo-nazi religious cultists in America. You know, like whats happening now. This game is about an alternate reality where the German Nazi's won the war. Not American neo-nazi's.

It'll just make the game sell better. Good.

Time to kill some fucking nazis

Censorship implies the government would step in and ban or change the content in the game, so no I don't think that'll happen.

Wolfenstein is pretty clear what it thinks about Nazis. Fighting and killing them isn't exactly a wishy-washy stance.

It's not at all really. Don't buy into the marketing BS. That game is not even going to be political at all. Everyone who saw it in the press said they were basically fooled (I saw it coming a mile away, Far Cry 3 and 4 are both so fucking dumb story wise).

The bad guys in that game are literally just a gun cult and that's it.

No, I doubt it. I also thought about this game with recent happenings, but not in the way of thinking they'd change it. Plus, as said, this game is about taking down those forces of evil, so why stop it? There are also KKK in the game, but you don't kill them I don't think.

I hope not! I don't want to see anything that might be relevant toned down because some people who don't like it complain.

Machine Games doesn't seem like a company that would censor anything anyway. This is the dev that sent you into a pretty terrible Nazi concentration camp last game. And, for that matter, showed us more of what Nazis were about than most shooters would ever think to try.

Hell yeah. Love this comment.

Well, that is kind of a bummer. I have lost a little interest in that game now.

No - a lot of this stuff that's happening now has been bubbling beneath the surface for almost two years. If anything, I hope this game leans into it and makes interesting modern commentary.

Except that's precedent for a different sort of thing altogether. Publishers of all variety of media didn't want to remind people of what they'd lost, or conjure images of what they'd seen, so the towers were removed from movies and set pieces involving tall buildings or that area of New York were removed from games. It wasn't so much a reaction to current events as it was an understanding that nothing good was going to come out of allowing users to fly planes into buildings (even if they just bounced off the buildings) or showing majestic, sweeping shots of towers that had just buried 3,000 bodies under them months prior.

Nobody, other than Nazis, is going to get a bad feeling or have a bad memory of that time they shot a Nazi in the face (and for 99% of the people who play this game, shooting Nazis is essentially a fantastical or historical experience and not something they can relate to in any way). There's no backlash to be afraid of from that, other than sample hot takes like, "does this game invite violence against the alt-right?" which shouldn't even be a conversation - the alt-right invite violence upon themselves without any help from anti-Nazi propoganda or video games depicting the shooting of century-old fascists.

@spamfromthecan: Yeah it would have set it apart. Everything I saw from people who played it said it was Far Cry 4 again with some new wrinkles, mainly AI partners MGSV style. It was some bullshit marketing to a very high degree going on with that one.

@nodima: YUP.

People really ought to stop empowering hate groups by calling them Nazis.

@bocckob: Yeah, let's just call them dudes that occasionally wear swastika armbands and only sometimes shout "blood and soil" and "sieg heil".

Doubt. Nazis being the unquestioned bad guys (for good reason) has a long history.

If anything, I think Far Cry 5 would be the game effected (whether those themes are in the game or not; it's how it was first pitched, and that perception matters).

@bocckob: I don't think there's anything empowering about being called what the world agrees are the most hated bunch of people ever. If anything, it empowers and emboldens people to take action against hate. Just look at Discord and GoDaddy taking action.

These people already are fine with hanging out with white supremacy groups and actual Neo-nazis. Calling them what they are and them going "Yeah, you know what? I guess I am a Nazi since you keep calling me that" isn't a great evil on your part. It only highlights them as an awful person.

Can't wait for this game to come out.

Didn't stop Battlefield Hardline. Right? Remember that game??

Shooting Nazi is all good and fun for WWII and games but remember kids shooting or punching anyone in this day and age, then your the Nazi.

If you practice Nazi ideology, that makes you one thing, and mincing words does nobody any good. "Nazi" isn't a term of empowerment.

@justin258 said:

Yeah, I was going to post this too. Once your franchise has gone to a labour camp, shooting some robotic Nazis in the US isn't that wild.

Wolfenstein: The New Order actually included this disclaimer (this is the version that press got I think) and I imagine the new game will have something similar:

As someone else mentioned, no, it will be censored, because that would have to be done by some agency (usually government-affiliated) outside of the developer or publisher. If either of those chose to make a content change to the game for whatever reason, it could only be called an edit. That won't happen, though, because that would be kowtowing to pressure from Nazis. And fuck Nazis!

@burncoat: It's a simple psychological thing. Nazis were once a large group that held a great deal of power and could exert influence and oppression over a very large scale. If you're some white supremacist, being compared to the Nazis is probably a great compliment. But what we actually have are groups of assholes who get slapped down if they so much as gather in an empty field. You can't just say you're a Nazi and be a fucking Nazi any more than I can say I'm the King of Atlantis and live under the sea.

In our useless sensationalist society, it's a lot more fun to freak out and get excited because "oooh Nazis! The Nazis are coming back! We have to get ready and organize campaigns and whatever the fuck!" You can't build up as much attention and get hits and views and shit if you reported, "hey some assholes are clumped up on the sidewalk" compared to, "Nazis hold rally in town square!!" I'm almost completely disconnected from social media and I still see posts like, "It was risky for me, but I stood up to the Nazis!" No you didn't. You made a lame comment on Twitter. People need to settle down and get some perspective.

They are self-identified Nazis. You are wrong. Semantics are not the issue. The end.

@bocckob: These people were for years saying they weren't Nazis when people compared them to Nazis. One of the fools identified by photos even tries to pull the "I'm not racist, I'm just a white nationalist" card, clearly affected and embarrassed by being called a Nazi or associated with them. Alex Jones is out there claiming the people dressed like and waving the swastika were planted actors to give a bad image of the alt-right.

They largely don't like being compared to the worst people in recent history. Of course some will love it because they idolize it. They are warped people. If i make a Nazi feel good because i called him what he is, that's not on me, it's on his terrible way of thinking. Identifying them and calling them what they are does not empower them. Ignoring what they are and letting them weasel into positions of power is.

Lol this thread is getting lock isn't it?

@burncoat: I was kind of hoping the discussion in this thread would focus on Wolfenstein and how these real world events could affect it and less about the real world events themselves.

InBeforeTheLock.gif

I don't think the makers of this game will edit game content to reduce the impact of the imagery.

I just don't think it will. The game releases late October, that means development is done sans bugfixing/polish stuff, and recent events, as tragic as they are, just aren't a big enough deal to change anything meaningful at the eleventh hour.

I won't lie, I'm kinda more hyped to play through these games.

But as far as censorship goes, I highly doubt it. Wouldn't put it past some people calling for it (governmentally or otherwise), but fuck em.

So we can at least say that more people are interested in playing the new game because of the resurgence of disdain for Nazis? I guess that works.

If you start censoring games because of extremist douchebags you are giving in to their BS. They are no more then a bunch of pseudo political hooligans who thrive on being social outcasts. By appropriating their symbols in our entertainment media we diminish the negative impact/power these symbols represent.

There's plenty of Nazis abound in the US of A. (As well as other countries.) Don't see how a single news report would change anything.

I doubt it will be "censored" (or edited, whatever you prefer), but I think it will have an effect on it.

Either in the marketing or the reception, it is not going to be released in a bubble. Someone will have to address the elephant in the room that is neo-nazis in modern America not being a wacky dystopia.

A very small number of assholes isn’t worth a lick of thought from the devs.

Neo Nazis and racists have always been here. They are only more visible because the political environment has become significantly more turbulent.

Neo nazis are not new, i guess its just new to all the " racism is dead" folks. I doubt it will make a difference on the games content or sales.

I don't think so and don't see any reason it should. There have been Nazi's in America since there were Nazi's in power in Germany and that unfortunately ins't going to change.

I don't encourage violence but hell no. The word has a meaning.

If anything, I think the current events are just reinforcing that a story in which a diverse, multicultural team overthrows a Nazi invasion of America is something that is really goddamn necessary right now.

As glad as I am that people are now calling alt-right extremists just plain "Nazis" instead of neo-nazis, I still think there's a difference with 1940s German Nazis that will forever make it OK to make them bad guys in a game.

On the other hand, I'm almost 100% certain that you can make a modern shooter about killing contemporary American Nazis and most people wouldn't care one bit.

It's not like recent events have put neonazi's in a better light, or that the Wolfenstein folk were going out of their way to paint them in a good light. The game will paint them in a bad light, just like it was going to be without recent events.

Just for fun they should make destroying confederate statues a collectable.

I think it will affect the reception of the game, ie more positive in some circles, more negative in others. I'm sure some people will argue that the game trivializes something real and horrifying going on right now, but I think the clear anti-nazi nature of BJ and the genuinely strong reputation Wolfenstein has for thoughtful storytelling will mean that the vast majority of negative reaction will come from those who don't want to see their idols getting torn apart by machine guns.

@justkamtoo: "Punching a nazi makes YOU the nazi" is some broken ass logic.

Anyway, no I do not believe the recent events will have any impact in terms of censoring anything in the game.