With most gaming companies having some form of social media presence, often nowadays audiences can somewhat expect publishers and developers to have their say on political matters. Not all video game creators involve themselves in politics, and some gamers staunchly believe that the companies should stick to their creative medium. However, sometimes those in the gaming industry take a stand on a matter, such as arecent blog post byDestiny 2developer Bungiethat saw it make a statement on the possible overturning of Roe v Wade.PlayStation’sJim Ryan has also made a statement on the matter.
Ryan’s email was not necessarily meant for public viewership or exposure, but due to its nature, it has found thePlayStationCEO in somewhat of a controversial position with staff. Ryan sent out an email to PlayStation staff on May 12, which concerned several current events. Mainly, it addressed the recent leak of a US Supreme Court opinion regarding Roe v Wade, in which the 1973 case that legalized abortion could be overturned.
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According to reports, Ryan’s email dodged taking a firm stance on either side of the subject, and instead he chose to highlight the diversity of opinions within PlayStation. “We owe it to each other and to PlayStation’s millions of users to respect differences of opinion,” Ryan wrote. This caused controversy among some PlayStation employees, who believed that Ryan should’ve taken a stand on the political matter. Usually, gaming corporations do feel a pressure to remark on big events. However, this usually concerns problems within the industry, such asPhil Spencer saying Xbox should work to better meet deadlinesfollowingStarfield’sdelay.
Following his statement regarding respect and differences of opinion, Ryan skirted around the difficult discussion to give PlayStation employees a more lighthearted end to the message. Ryan described in the email the birthday party for his two cats, and expressed his want for a dog one day. While it may seem out of the blue, Jim Ryan has often been one to share his opinions on a variety of topics, such as when he stated that live service games would be more important thansubscription services like PlayStation Plus.
However, on this occasion some fans and employees weren’t exactly happy with Ryan’s deflection of a real-world issue. As pressure grows for video game companies to speak on global matters, and more publishers and developers are speaking on political events, it may be more difficult to dodge topics as Jim Ryan did without creating a backlash. Considering Ryan wantshundreds of millions of people to have access to PlayStation games, he may be avoiding making what could be a controversial political stance.
