[Update:] The “Fagbag” comment that was outside the geometry of a level is still censored and removed, and the $10,000 has still been given to the LGBTQIA+ foundation, and the employees are still going through sensitivity training. GamesIndustry.biz confirmed it via tweets, but Polygon managed to grab a statement from one of the Voidpoint developers, who told them…

“However, the soap bottle will not be removed. “The use of the word “f*gbag” in an area that was inaccessible without hacking the game, and was added by one developer without approval from anyone else, was removed a few days ago. We once again apologize for this text as it does not reflect the values of 3D Realms or Voidpoint. “Jokes at the expense of marginalized communities will not be present in future games published by 3D Realms. However, a portion of our community made it loud and clear they felt removing ‘Ogay’ was censorship and should be protected by free speech. Voidpoint wanted to listen and we respected this decision.”

So this means that basically the capitulation is still in effect, only the “Ogay” soap bottle censorship was reverted. It’s like one step forward but three steps back, and in the end ResetEra still came out on top with the higher score. Worse yet is that according to Voidpoint’s statement, they’ll be self-censoring to avoid offending “marginalized communities”, so don’t expect any edgy jokes in future games unless it’s against straight, white males.

They’re also still censoring any threads that mention ResetEra or the hate forum’s cancel-culture campaign to get the developers to bend to their will. One such thread was archived before being deleted, which asked if 3D Realms would be forgoing sensitivity training and donations on behalf of not offending ResetEra, and the thread was deleted.

This is a farce.

[Original article:] The soap sprite has reportedly been reverted in Ion Fury, and the game will not be censored nor will any of Voidpoint’s future titles. That’s according to the developer.

In a Steam community post published on August 26th, 2019, Voidpoint made a short and sweet joint statement with 3D Realms, which reads…

“We’ve caused a recent controversy suggesting Ion Fury game content was to be censored. “We will absolutely NOT be censoring Ion Fury or any of our other games, now or in the future, including but not limited to by removing gags such as gaming’s most controversial facial wash. “We do not support censorship of creative works of any kind and regret our initial decision to alter a sprite in the game instead of trusting our instincts. 3D Realms and Voidpoint stand together on this matter. “Last but not least, please respect our need to keep our community forums clean from hateful messages, spam, or off-topic threads. We recognize our mistake and have received your message loud and clear!”

In a separate thread, the Steam moderator and developer Frederik Schreiber also confirmed that the sprite is being restored in Ion Fury, and the game won’t be censored.

This comes after the forums were heavily censored, and reviews were flagged and removed, and users were permanently banned from the community threads. They even topped it off with one of the moderators over the game proudly and publicly broadcasting “I hate gamers!”.

So why did all of that censorship take place within the Ion Fury community? Because the community became incensed when they found out that 3D Realms and Voidpoint kowtowed to ResetEra’s complaints. It wasn’t just that they apologized for offending one of the most hated forum communities on the internet, it was that they also subjected the developers to “sensitivity training” and donated $10,000 to an LGBTQIA+ organization. They topped off this ridiculous display of acquiescence with a zero tolerance “hate speech” policy

It was the ultimate affront to the core gaming community.

Voidpoint has now relented, following a massive public backlash from said core gaming community, which included review bombing Ion Fury and tons of people saying that they would pirate the game instead of paying for it. As pointed out by veteran developer Mark Kern, Voidpoint and 3D Realms were right to turn away from yielding their service at the footstool of the fetid throne of ResetEra.

Interesting. Ion Fury walks back their censorship patch. Was probably because the real gamers have more of an impact on sales then whiny ResetERA flappers. “We regret our original decision” to censor our game. Damn right. https://t.co/fHakKlNGIj — Mark Kern (@Grummz) August 26, 2019

I wouldn’t be too quick to jump back into 3D Realms’ arms, though.

Instead of standing behind Voidpoint, 3D Realms initially threw them under the bus when the developers tried being steadfast against the frangible cannon of cancel culture. Who’s to say that if ResetEra or the game journalists mount a second offensive on them they won’t cave again?

For those on the fence, you can always wait a week or two to see how they react to the secondary fallout from this decision. On the upside, however, at least this is a rare case where the studio actually listened to its (potentially) paying audience for once.

(Thanks for the news tip Sir Caccola, AgentBJ09 and Ebicentre)