Gamewashing, a digest
Welcome to the second open-beta edition of Letter to a Gamer, the ad-free, non sponsored, and AI-free gaming newsletter. This english version, as it does not have any paying subscribers, is an example of how the newsletter will change. Free members of Letter to a Gamer will receive the week's News Index, premium members will also get recommendations, reviews, op-eds, interviews and deep dives. Also, supporting my independent journalism will grant you access to the telegram group where surveys, discussions and giveaways are held weekly. You can become a premium member of Letter to a Gamer at this link.
News index
+ Saudi Arabia bought a DLC for Assassin's Creed Mirage
- Stop Killing Games saves Splitgate 1
+ Something's wrong with Switch 2 devkits
- How to uninstall Roblox
This newsletter is dedicated to gamewashing, the practice of funding video game projects in the hope of changing the gamers' opinion of the backer. It's a close relative of greenwashing, rainbowashing, or sportswashing.
Now that you know the definition, you won't be surprised to learn that the free DLC coming to Assassin's Creed Mirage later this year, set in Saudi Arabia, was almost certainly entirely funded by Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
We don't have official confirmation but, in January of this year it was announced that the investment fund of the same nation that dissolved journalist Jamal Khashoggi in acid (after dismembering him in its Istanbul embassy) had signed a partnership agreement with Ubisoft to create bonus content for Assassin's Creed Mirage.
The upcoming DLC will see the game's protagonist, Basim, explore the ancient city of al-Ula, an archaeological site near Medina that Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in, complete with gameplay improvements and new story missions.
A personal comment: the release date is still unknown, but I hope Assassin's Creed fans will see who's pulling the strings on this project and boycott the initiative to send a strong message to Ubisoft.
Stop Killing Games, the initiative to preserve video games (especially live services) that die when their publishers pull the plug on their servers, motivated the developers to save Splitgate 1. This intervention was made necessary by the fact that Splitgate 2, after a disastrous launch, has returned to beta and its developers, 1047 Games, have announced that they will end support for the first (and best) chapter of the saga. Fortunately, thanks to the initiative's push and support, the game won't die but will be able to be managed by its passionate community via peer-to-peer servers.
Something's wrong with Switch 2 development because Nintendo is refusing to provide development studios with devkits to optimize their games for the new platform. Nintendo's response is to optimize for Switch 1 and rely on backwards compatibility, which is causing significant problems for small and medium-sized studios. Those who worked on the original's launch lineup recall a similar atmosphere during the Switch 1's first year, so it could just be Nintendo's usual paranoia.
The community asked, Letter to a Gamer responds. Here's how to uninstall Roblox:
- In the "Help & Support" section of the gear menu, click "Violations & Appeals" and then "Support"
- Open the contact form and fill out the following fields: email address / confirm email / username
- In the "Which device are you having the issue on?" field, select the device on which Roblox is running (PC, phone, tablet, or console)
- In the "Category Type" field, select "I want to delete my account"
- In the description, write "I would like to delete my account"
- Click Continue and, after completing the CAPTCHA, submit your request.
You should receive an automatic confirmation email, and within 48 hours, a second email with instructions to verify your identity.
Confirm your request, provide the requested additional information, and, after verification, your account will be deleted.
Thank you for reading the second and final open beta edition of Letter to a Gamer. If you want to support my independent journalism, you can subscribe with just 1 Euro a week, (4 a month) and agin access to the complete newsletter, commenting features on the website and the telegram group for chats and surveys.
See you at the next letter,
Riccardo "Tropic" Lichene