We here at Doujins have been keeping a close eye on Studio FOW's upcoming project Subverse for a while now. An ambitious sci-fi epic hentai RPG filled with awesome alien waifus? Hell fucking yes! Subverse has been on a lot of people's minds recently, but unfortunately, not for the best reason.

Studio FOW partnered with a YouTuber known as Arch for a video titled "Exclusive First Look at Subverse!" where he showed off some gameplay, but nothing too hot for YouTube of course. Game studios partner with YouTubers all the time to promote their work, but this Arch guy in particular has caused a bit of an outrage from some of Studio FOW's fans.

Formerly known as Arch Warhammer, his channel is known for videos about Warhammer lore, as well as opposition to Games Workshop's calls for inclusivity, which prompted GW to tell him to remove the Warhammer part from his name. Basically, he's an edgelord with a history of using racial slurs. We try not to get too political on this blog but you can read more about his past deeds here and make up your own mind.

Warhammer.net, creators of World of Warships, also worked with Arch during a cross-promotional event with Games Workshop earlier this year, despite being warned of him by GW. They then issued a statement apologizing for working with such a divisive figure and ceased their sponsorship with him. But this all begs the question, how were Studio FOW not aware of his reputation? Out of every gaming YouTuber, why pick a guy that's hated and shunned by certain groups for his inflammatory statements?

On Discord, their community manager FOWchan said: "We were not aware at the time that he had made racist and other controversial statements in the past" and "we did not look into his background as much as we could have, and we know now this was a mistake." But then they deleted that post and backpedalled, saying "In terms of the previous statement regarding Arch, we were bombarded suddenly with posts from different political groups, and as a result we acted in haste."

Another post that has since been deleted said "We would like to make it absolutely clear, we have no problems with Arch personally. We simply wanted him to showcase some of our gameplay together, which Arch did professionally and he was very gracious with his time. We appreciate his time and want to say we are sorry for jumping into a politically charged situation so quickly. Subverse has no political affiliation, it's a game to be enjoyed by everyone."

Since then, a developer known as Tibor posted on the Subverse Kickstarter page, where he apologized once more on account of not being much of a PR guy:

"I made multiple mistakes with communication and take full personal responsibility for the incompetency. Instead of leading the team with competency, I let conflicting messages, posts and statements appear on our communication channels. 

I let the backers down, I let our amazing Discord moderating team down by putting them into an impossible situation, and I let our fans down. This is a game to be enjoyed by everyone, and the last thing I wanted to do was create division within the fanbase.

I want to reassure the backers that we did not spend any Kickstarter money on paid advertising or youtuber influencing. We always put whatever funds we have available into the team and making the game better."

While his post does not explicitly mention Arch, it also states that they won't be partnering with anyone else in order to promote the game, instead letting the team speak for themselves through trailers and gameplay footage.

I know politics in places where they don't belong can turn a lot of people off, but what do you guys make of this? Do you think Studio FOW did nothing wrong? Do you think it's justified for people to lose their hype for Subverse because of their partnership with someone like Arch? Or is his personal agenda irrelevant to the game itself? Sound off below, and remember to keep it civil down there!