Developer cancels Wii U game after Nintendo fires employee in online abuse row

Necrosoft Games has cancelled a planned Wii U title after Nintendo fired marketing employee Alison Rapp.

Rapp has been the victim of online abuse and a smear campaign from certain online hate groups. She has been held accountable by these groups for Nintendo’s recent decisions to better localise its games for the Western markets – including removing elements such as the ‘breast slider’ in Xenoblade Chronicles X.

Some consumers have viewed these efforts to make the game more appealing to Western users as ‘censorship’ and have held the likes of Rapp responsible – despite the fact she repeatedly states that she had no input upon these decisions. Rapp has been vocal around the poor treatment of women in the video games industry, which has made her a target amongst certain gamers.

Rapp announced yesterday that she was dismissed because she is no longer ‘a good, safe representative of Nintendo’. This has provoked anger from the games industry for what they perceive as Nintendo failing to support their employee. One such comment came from Brandon Sheffield, who told his users that:

https://twitter.com/necrosofty/status/715295377230995457

Necrosoft Games most recent title was Gunhouse for Amazon devices.

However, Nintendo denies that the online abuse suffered by Rapp had anything to do with her dismissal. In a statement, the company said she was ‘terminated due to violation of internet company policy involving holding a second job in conflict with Nintendo’s corporate culture’.

The company went on to add that although the ‘termination follows her being the subject of criticism from certain groups via social media several weeks ago, the two are absolutely not related. Nintendo is a company committed to fostering inclusion and diversity in both our company and broader video games industry and we firmly reject the harassment of individuals based on gender, race or personal belief.’

However, Rapp insists this second job was done under a pseudonym and posed no threat to Nintendo.

The row continues.