Alex Koshelkov the CEO of Crytivo, the development company behind Farm Folks, claims Kotaku’s Alyssa Mercante “misrepresented” his comments and that he did not imply that gamers were incels.
A screenshot from Farm Folks (TBD), Crytivo
Koshelkov’s claim comes after he did an interview with Mercante after Farm Folks deleted a post inquiring about their game’s physics for female characters and then apologizing for it.
On April 27th, Farm Folks posted on X, “Alright folks, it’s time for some serious game development talk! We’re tinkering with character physics in Farm Folks. Burning question: which version has the perfect breast jiggle physics?”
It then shared three different videos with different physics for the female character. A follow-up post stated, “Does anyone want to see what 150% looks like?”
Farm Folks on X
READ: ‘Farm Folks’ Apologizes For Asking For Player Feedback On Its Female Character Physics
After receiving some backlash from DEI consultancy Black Girl Gamers, Farm Folks deleted their original post and issued an apology. It wrote, “We like to address a recent post where we came to our community asking for feedback. Our intent is always to connect and grow with our players, but it’s clear that we really missed the mark on our recent community feedback post. For that, we all sincerely apologize.”
Farm Folks continued, “We had received concerns about the female player model’s breast physics in the past, and we thought we should ask the community what felt more appropriate. Unfortunately, this crossed a line. We try to foster a welcoming community and the post and subsequent replies made many of our community members uncomfortable and alienated. The reply made about ‘150% physics’ was also inappropriate, and we apologize for that. We are taking the necessary steps to learn from this and we’re committed to doing better moving forward.”
A screenshot from Farm Folks (TBD), Crytivo
Next, the game’s developer stated, “We value the feedback of our community, and work hard to include everyone in the discussion. We want to create a game that feels alive, which is why we pay close attention to every aspect of our world, from how weather and time affect the world to the characters’ interactive presence within it.”
“We want everyone to feel included in the games development and will be reevaluating how to best interact with the community and as well as how to best ask for feedback from the community in the future,” Farm Folks added.
The apology concluded, “Your input is instrumental as we continue to develop Farm Folks. We’ll keep sharing updates and progress on X and Discord. Your enjoyment and how you choose to experience our world is our utmost priority. Thank you for being a part of our journey, and for your support and understanding as we grow.”
Farm Folks on X
In an interview with Kotaku, Mercante then reported that Koshelkov informed her, “You have to be a very poor person to kind of sexualize this…like the internet is full of sex right now.”
“There’s some crazy things that you can find, if you’re having problems with our characters, like, look for help,” he continued. “Maybe go and date a woman or something like that. Because this is not our goal, we don’t want to attract people that are attracted to only these body parts.”
A screenshot from Farm Folks (TBD), Crytivo
On X, HatMcGlasses stated, “Farm Folks’ low-info CEO implies that gamers who won’t cave to the censorship mob, Cancel Pigs, and corrupt journos are incels. Mercante played him and now is dragging him for the sucker he is on her handle.”
Koshelkov responded, “Hi, this is not what I implied, and it’s misrepresented here. I meant that if you’re against natural breast movement, this statement applies to you. We don’t want exaggerations, and at the same time, we would love to have natural – elegant motion in our characters bodies.”
Alex Koshelkov on X
Koshelkov would elaborate in another response to user officialatraes. He stated, “My comment was actually directed towards the people who have issues with natural body motion in our game. Not towards the people who appreciate it. I think it was intentionally misrepresented.”
Alex Koshelkov on X
When pressed by user nonetosee regarding the specificity of his comments, Koshelkov stated, “It might be because of the limited English vocabulary, and I thought I expressed myself clearly. I feel like it’s misrepresented intentionally.”
Alex Koshelkov on X
Koshelkov did tell Mercante he had no problems with the breast physics and expected to have it in the game, “The original idea was—yeah we spiced it up with a joke, which was the problem—but the general idea was to make sure that we’re doing [breast physics] right…because our game is very immersive. It’s not that we’re fixated on women’s parts…our entire character body is full of technology…to me, breast movement was not controversial since it’s human biology.”
He confirmed, “Regarding elegant, tasteful [breast physics] implementation, I still think that we’re going to do it.”
A screenshot from Farm Folks (TBD), Crytivo
He reiterated this on X to D20Mafia, “I’m not censoring my vision. We’re going to have character body physics in the game. Our apology was for bad wording.”
Alex Koshelkov on X
What do you make of Koshelkov claiming that Mercante “intentionally misrepresented” his comments regarding people’s reaction to breast physics implementation in Farm Folks?
That’s what happens when you strike a deal with
the DevilKotaku. In a space as competitive as farming games, being controversial, divisive, and hostile to potential customers is not a good move, IMO.The thrilling saga continues. He should’ve known better to talk to Kotaku and she’s like the worst person to top it off. Don’t like what he said in response to Kern but I think it could’ve been worse.
This. Is. Why. You. Don’t. Apologize. To. Wokeness.