After hours of blowback for skipping X, Sucker Punch Productions and PlayStation eventually pushed the new Ghost of Yotei: One Thousand Blades trailer to the platform. Whether that posting was always scheduled or a scramble response to criticism is unclear. What is clear: the audience reception was rough. The Ghost of Yotei trailer’s like/dislike ratio on YouTube swung hard negative, and the comment sections filled with references to Charlie Kirk and the studio’s silence over now former senior artist Drew Harrison’s celebratory posts about his assassination.
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
As of this writing, counters show roughly 15,000 likes vs. 35,000 dislikes, with comments both on YouTube and X dominated by the controversy.
This is the latest chapter in the Ghost of Yotei Charlie Kirk saga that has overshadowed the game’s marketing for days.
The Platform Pivot
When the trailer first rolled out, fans noticed it was promoted on YouTube and Bluesky, but not on X—the largest real-time conversation hub for gaming news. Critics (including industry veteran Mark “Grummz” Kern) called the omission an intentional dodge, arguing Sucker Punch and Sony were trying to avoid the very audience that had been hammering them over Harrison’s posts. Hours later, the trailer appeared on X.
The new Ghost of Yotei trailer has been posted everywhere except X.
Neither @playstation or @SuckerPunchProd have posted it, but it is on Bluesky and YouTube.
They are basically telling all gamers on X that they are not welcome and trying to sweep everything under a rug.
They… pic.twitter.com/8sUzhROo4m
— Grummz (@Grummz) September 16, 2025
Why does it matter? Because where you post is part of the message. Launching “everywhere but X” looked like crisis containment by avoidance. Posting to X only after public pressure reads, to many fans, like the company blinking.
The Numbers Weren’t Kind
Once the trailer circulated broadly, the reception turned into a scoreboard. Public dislike totals climbed to a more than 2:1 disapproval rate. The signal is unmistakable: a large slice of the audience chose the trailer itself as the protest vehicle.
The dislike ratio for the trailer to Ghost of Yotei as of 9:45 a.m. EST on September 17, 2025 – YouTube, PlayStation
And they said the quiet part out loud in the replies: hundreds of comments call out Harrison by name, mention Charlie Kirk, and ask why Sony and Sucker Punch still haven’t addressed the episode. Instead of discussing combat, story, or visuals, the top-voted remarks fixate on the studio’s silence.
How We Got Here: A Quick Timeline of the Ghost of Yotei Charlie Kirk Fiasco
Harrison’s posts: On Bluesky, the senior staffer joked, “I hope the shooter’s name is Mario so that Luigi knows his bro got his back,” and amplified a line that called Kirk a bigot and said he “died doing what he loved.”
Sucker Punch Senior Dev Drew Harrison mocks Charlie Kirk on BlueSky – BlueSky
Backlash & emails: Gamers began tagging/alerting Sucker Punch and PlayStation. Harrison responded by urging people to email lawmakers for gun control rather than email employers.
Employment status: Harrison then wrote that if “standing up against fascism” cost her a 10-year dream job, she’d “do it again 100x stronger,” and updated LinkedIn to list September 2025 as her end date at Sucker Punch.
Drew Harrison comments on being fired from Sucker Punch after celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk – BlueSky
Studio silence: Neither Sony nor Sucker Punch has publicly confirmed her termination or addressed the posts.
Trailer rollout: The new Ghost of Yotei trailer appears on YouTube/Bluesky first; after hours of complaints, it’s posted to X—then promptly ratioed and flooded with Charlie Kirk commentary.
Why the Silence Is Backfiring
In entertainment, the non-statement can become the statement. By refusing to address a senior employee joking about a political figure’s killing—and then initially avoiding the platform where the blowback is loudest—Sucker Punch created a vacuum.
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
Fans filled it with their own conclusions:
- Evasion: Skipping X looked like an attempt to bury a story rather than face it.
- Values signal: Silence on a employee’s gleeful rhetoric on a violent incident reads to some as tacit approval or corporate cowardice.
- Brand damage: The Ghost of Tsushima goodwill that took years to build is now being repurposed as a referendum on studio culture.
Even players who normally avoid culture-war fights are asking a simple question: If a senior staffer publicly jokes about a murder, does anyone at the studio say, “That’s not who we are”?
And Then There’s Ghost of Yotei Itself…
This scandal landed on a powder keg. Yotei had already drawn heat for a major creative pivot—a new protagonist centuries after Jin Sakai—and for casting Erika Ishii, a vocal activist, as the lead. Debate over those choices was already simmering; Harrison’s posts turned the pot over.
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
Now every marketing beat is being interpreted through the Charlie Kirk lens. A trailer that should have been about swordplay, art direction, and world-building instead became rolling commentary on corporate accountability. That is not where you want to be a month from launch for an expensive AAA game.
What Would Defuse This?
Two things could change the trajectory fast:
- A clear, measured statement from Sucker Punch/Sony. It doesn’t need to be performative—just an unambiguous line that celebrating violence is unacceptable and doesn’t reflect studio values.
- Let the work speak—without politics. A substantive gameplay/developer deep dive focused strictly on craft could help recenter the conversation.
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
Right now, the opposite is happening. each new post becomes a magnet for protest, and every hour of silence hardens the narrative that the company hopes this blows over without accountability.
Bottom Line
Publishing the trailer to X after hours of criticism didn’t reset the story—it intensified it.
A screenshot from Ghost of Yōtei (2025), Sucker Punch
The negative ratio and comment flood show that many players have made the marketing itself the venue for protest. Until Sucker Punch or Sony addresses the controversy head-on, expect Charlie Kirk to trend alongside every Ghost of Yotei promo beat—and for each new video to become another scoreboard.
How do you feel about this Ghost of Yotei Charlie Kirk controversy? Will Sucker Punch or Sony speak out? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
UP NEXT: Jimmy Kimmel Pushes False Narrative About Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Killer in Latest Late-Night Tirade
I hadn’t heard anything about the trailer. Even if I look at it with eyes unclouded by that Drew chick and the injection of politics into the game (you can’t tell me out of 8 billion people on earth they couldn’t find a woman without the baggage of her activist. Someone as ugly on the inside as on the outside) the game still looks pretty meh.
Ghosts look and feel was mind-breaking years ago when the first came out. This one looks like they’re phoning it in. They didn’t seem to improve the technology much, if at all.
I can’t imagine there are as many people champing at the bit for a story featuring a character that has no actual historical precedent at the time and setting (that I could find). This is Yasuke 2.0, but at least there is historical reference to him.
Fighting women in this era weren’t unknown but they were pretty much exclusive to defending their homes and tribes. There’s no account of a wandering woman fighters.
Anyway, it looks like they’re trying to get by on a story charged with modern political sensibilities.
There’s no statement they can make. Sucker Punch agrees with the sentiment and so do all their other employees, but they had to fire the one stupid enough who was public about it. The only action is to not give money to people who hate you.