Rebellion’s Jason Kinglsey says he’s yet to have an explanation why some find assassinating a ”genocidal maniac to be offensive.” It’s ”deliberately controversial” to draw attention.
Nothing sells better than controversy and publisher 505 Games doesn’t have big marketing pockets like others do, admits Rebellion. It asks ‘would you take the shot?’
”I haven’t yet had anybody explain to me why they find assassinating a genocidal maniac to be offensive. I don’t quite get the justification for that. Are they saying it’s offensive because of the presence of Hitler or is it somehow we shouldn’t trivialise by making it into a game?” said Jason Kinglsey speaking to Eurogamer.
The bonus mission has players disrupt a train that Hitler is riding on, where he’ll then attempt to flee on foot toward a train station giving us the opportunity to put him down. Some have objected saying it shouldn’t be in the game, others have expressed an eagerness to end such an evil figure but most appear indifferent.
”Quite frankly, it is a commercial enterprise,” he stated. ”We’re trying to get attention for the game. We’re working with 505 and they’re not the biggest of publishers with the deepest of pockets. So whatever we can do to get attention for what is an incredibly brilliant game, is good. The more people can hear about it the better, as far as I’m concerned.”
”I suppose it’s deliberately controversial. We thought it was going to be an interesting piece for the press, and we found it very interesting ourselves. It wasn’t something we just casually did. We thought about it. We talked about it. We discussed the whys and the wherefores.”
”Quite frankly, it is chilling,” continued Kingsley. ”It’s actually not a trivial thing to do. As a piece of content, as a piece of art, it does of course ask difficult questions of the viewer. Would you have taken the shot if you had known? In a way, the controversy is a good thing because it makes people think.”
Lead producer Steve Hart chipped in: ”You make a sniping game, it’s all about your targets, and Hitler has to be the ultimate target in any war game. He has to be.” He certainly was during the war - is it wrong then?
Sniper Elite V2 releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in May.
