After Campo Santo have decided to get ethical over PewDiePie's recent YouTube slip-up, a lot of players have taken to review bombing Firewatch on Steam. The current score is down to Mixed from what I presume must have been Mostly Positive before the first bombing run.
PewDiePie got a little upset and called some random PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds player a nigger during a live-stream a very short while ago. Campo Santo felt that it would be appropriate to take personal, ethical and apparently political offence, and promptly proceeded to file a DMCA takedown claim against PewDiePie's material containing footage from their Firewatch title.
Neither of the two parties engaged in the scuffle are strangers to polarising statements. PewDiePie's previous casual attitude and specific brand of humour has lead to Disney backing out of their contract, and Campo Santo's ethical and political attitudes were strongly hinted at during this year's .
Depending on your sources, both cries of Campo Santo's DMCA claim being legal and not so legal can be heard flying left and right. An actual court case or lawsuit is unlikely at this point, especially since PewDiePie has tugged tail and apologised for the live-stream slip, and Campo Santo's Sean Vanaman has said that the DMCA stunt might have been a bad way let everyone know about how disgruntled he is.
Most of te he mainstream gaming media have covered the exchange with their usual inquisitorial flare for unbiased framing of the entire story, and voices condemning Campo Santo for their reaction could only be found in various comment sections. Most of these have of course been heavily down-voted given the option.
A lot of those censored voices have found a platform to let their disapproval be known in the slowly growing of Steam review bombing.
Steam
Some review bombs were obviously in a rush, like Odin who has 4 hours with the game on record deploying a simple: " Censorship is cancer. The game's great tho."
Steam
Campo Santo have managed to broadcast a rallying cry amidst the scuffle.
The exchange might not continue any further than this. Since both parties have sort of apologised but not really, and everyone gets away with some free publicity, for better or worse.
Artists are calling for no-platforming and censorship, while media personalities single are single handedly stirring up the bee hive that passes for discourse in gaming, and consumers are giving negative reviews to games they actually enjoy. Welcome to video games, grab a seat.
