Legal analyst Andrew Esquire asserted that Dot Esports’ UK Associate Editor Tom Foley defamed Black Myth: Wukong developer Game Science.
A screenshot from Black Myth: Wukong (2024), Game Science
In a recent video upload to his YouTube channel Legal Mindset, Esquire said that Foley defamed Game Science in his recently published article titled “Black Myth Wukong’s shameless lack of diversity is attracting the wrong type of fans.”
He said, “It’s worth pointing out that what he’s saying is, is essentially, I mean at certain points, defamatory. It’s business defamation. Business defamation being making false statements that harm a business’ reputation or their, you now, business. Their course of business etc…”
From there, Esquire went through much of the article. At one point, he quotes Foley who wrote, “Considering the reports of sexism running rampant within the developer’s workplace, we can only speculate, but I strongly believe Wukong’s lack of diversity is adding fuel to the fire.”
Esquire commented, “This is defamation. He’s got no proof of this, right, at all whatsoever. So that’s defamatory. He’s defaming them right there.”
A screenshot from Black Myth: Wukong (2024), Game Science
As far as “reports of sexism running within the developer’s workplace,” they do not exist. There is one report from IGN that has been repeated by multiple media outlets including The Guardian and GameSpot.
That report written by Rebekah Valentine and Khee Hoon Chan accused the company of “sexism” based on social media posts from the developers and old recruitment posters for the company. The duo wrote, “Beneath the luster of this souls-like is a studio plagued by claims of sexism. Several posts have surfaced from Chinese social media site Weibo, written by individuals from the studio, that contain multiple references to [male anatomy] and sexual innuendos.”
A screenshot from Black Myth: Wukong (2024), Game Science
The social media posts are highly disputed with a number of individuals noting they were mistranslated or were translated in the most uncharitable way possible. A video from Asmongold Clips referenced one such social media post from co-founder Feng Ji noting that his comment “is a used idiom in the Chinese language. As a colloquial expression used humorously or sarcastically to describe a situation where excessive flattery or sycophancy has an overwhelming and paralyzing effect on someone. The use of such metaphors can be found in informal speech on social media.”
Furthermore, the clip notes that other posts that IGN used in its smear article were translated “in the most uncharitable way possible” in order to push the narrative that the developer is sexist and misogynist.
Chinese YouTuber Fei_fiii also noted that IGN mistranslated Feng Ji’s comments. She stated that what he was trying to convey in Chinese was, “I just wanted to recruit a few people, but received more praise than expected, which made me feel uneasy.”
She then stated, “However, just because I understand what he was trying to say doesn’t mean I approve of his way of saying it. You can call him ‘rude’ and ‘crude,’ but there’s no need to label him as sexist.”
In fact, she goes on to detail that there was significant Chinese backlash for these remarks, “The backlash against them on the Chinese internet actually started at this point when the first video came out and wasn’t anything new. Their inappropriate remarks from before were dug up and widely spread at this time. This spread reached beyond the gaming community and every year since whenever they release a new video it sparks another wave of criticism with people arguing fiercely over it. IGN’s report last year was late to the game.”
READ: ResetEra Users Get Depressed After ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ Breaks Concurrent Player Number Records
Furthermore, Khee Hoon Chan recently called for a boycott of the game and even encouraged his followers to commit the crime of piracy calling into question his integrity and the integrity of the initial report in general.
Chan wrote, “I’m so f***ing pissed off. This has gone too far. Dont [sic] play Black Myth Wukong. If you must, go and pirate it. If you enjoy it, I do not want to know it. F**k Game Science and all the grifters who are doing this to one of my fave people in the industry.”
Khee Hoon Chan on X
What do you make of Esquire’s analysis that Foley defamed Game Science?
