Financial backing of pro-Trump trolls causes rift with VR games developers as Palmer Luckey attempts to backtrack

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Developers of virtual reality games are pulling their support for Oculus after the involvement of its co-founder Palmer Luckey in a pro-Trump and anti-Clinton group was revealed.



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Luckey, who works at Facebook after it bought the VR company, revealed himself to be the secret financial backer behind the Nimble America group which is dedicated to turning the tide of the US election through “meme magic” and “shitposting” - creating images, gifs and other propaganda with pro-Trump captions.

Following Luckey’s admission, games developers large and small have publicly condemned the Oculus co-founder.

High profile developer Insomniac Games, whose games include the long running Ratchet and Clank series, Resistance and Spyro, and who is in the process of developing three games exclusively for the Oculus Rift, issued the statement: “Insomniac Games condemns all forms of hate speech. While everyone has a right to express his or her political opinion, the behaviour and sentiments reported do not reflect the values of our company. We are also confident that this behaviour and sentiment does not reflect the values of the many Oculus employees we work with on a daily basis.”

Some developers were so appalled at Luckey’s actions that they pulled their support for Oculus, instead limiting their game releases to competitors including the Valve-backed HTC Vive and the Sony PlayStation VR.

Scruta Games, developer of Computer Janitor VR, Transporter Room 3 and Closer than Infinity said it would cancel Oculus support until Luckey stood down.

Scruta Games (@ScrutaGames) Until @PalmerLuckey steps down from his position at @oculus, we will be cancelling Oculus support for our games.

Scruta Games (@ScrutaGames) It’s not about “politics”, it’s about the face of a company financially backing racist trolls. He is free to vote for whoever he pleases.

Tomorrow Today Labs, developers of Newton VR, Subject 107 and an unannounced HTC Vive game said it would not support the Oculus Touch “as long as [Luckey] is employed there”.

Tomorrow Today Labs (@TTLabsVR) Hey @oculus, @PalmerLuckey's actions are unacceptable. NewtonVR will not be supporting the Oculus Touch as long as he is employed there.

Developer of Fez, Panoramical and Superhypercube, Polytron Corporation and Kokoromi said: “In a political climate as fragile and horrifying as this one, we cannot tacitly endorse these actions by supporting Luckey or his platform. In light of this, we will not be pursuing Oculus support for our upcoming VR release, Superhypercube.”

Since Luckey’s admission, he has attempted to backtrack, saying: “I am deeply sorry that my actions are negatively impacting the perception of Oculus and its partners. I am committed to the principles of fair play and equal treatment.”

Brendan Iribe, co-founder and chief executive of Oculus VR, said: “Everyone at Oculus is free to support the issues or causes that matter to them, whether or not we agree with those views. It is important to remember that Palmer acted independently in a personal capacity, and was in no way representing the company.”

However, the author Mark Sumner perhaps summed up the feeling of many best, tweeting that despite backing Oculus’s Kickstater campaign and developing non-gaming tools for the system, he would no longer support the platform.