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Some of you may have heard of an almost decade old video game called "Kingdom Come: Deliverence". It is a realistic RPG with no fantasy elements, developed by a Czech studio, and set in middle ages Czechia.
At its release its fidelity to history was widely praised by gamers. But gaming journalists attacked it for this very reason: fidelity to history meant that there was a paucity of Africans in the game. Despite gaming journalists forming united frons to smear the developers as racist, for not altering the racial demographics to please foreigners, the developers stood FIRMLY by their game.
Fast forward to a couple of months ago, and a sequel to KC:D is announced. Warhorse Studios says nothing eyebrow raising. Then a shock: screenshots appearing to show an African boasting about his land plenty, equality and knowledge, purporting to be from KC:D2 surfaces. There is widespread disbelief, the developers deny its authenticity, deboonkers find queerities in rendering. Matter is considered to be dubious at best.
Then a shock: a full admission from the man who so unfairly smeared, and who didn't buckle, that the game is in fact alters history to suit the tastes of 2025 American audiences.
Still the wages are low in Czechia, and loyalty of the marginalized and silenced peoples is worthless compared to fame the media can bestow upon you, and fortune gained from hiding the massive backtracks in marketing, so the game is already profitable.
I checked, for the first time in years, the gamergate subreddit (still going strong), and they were particularly upset that the game gives the player the option to make the protagonist bisexual.
As regards some arrogant African merchant side character, stories often seem to center people who are ‘unusual’ or out of place in a setting. The world’s only cyborg, the last representative of a dying race, a jew in turn of the century dublin, etc.
There is a strange tendency for the queer character to be Subharan African, through. Pentiment, Assassin's Creed: Shadows, and now this game all inserted a person of this ethnicity, rather than an Asiatic, a European, and an Asiatic, respectively. In games of old Asiatic elements would be inserted hapharzadiously, but now only Africanization is seemingly acceptable in products by Europeans and Americans.
I think the first game had some Turks, so perhaps they just wanted to switch it up.
Cumans, strictly speaking, but those are kinda turkic so yeah I guess.
And they needed to be killed in the main story.
There was a perk for killing enough of them that it gave you a fear bonus and some would run away.
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