A game developer has received death threats following a May 6 tweet suggesting that Trek To Yomi will have made more money to be on Xbox Game Pass than it would have in Playstation sales.
The tweet caused controversy and triggered a barrage of responses, many of which were incredibly unpleasant and seemingly from Playstation fans upset by the conclusion of the original tweet.
The developer, who goes by Chris on social media, quickly responded to their tweet addressing the reception it was facing, clarifying: “I didn't post this because of freaking video game consoles. I posted this because I was thinking about my personal experience working with Xbox and knowing how big Game Pass deals can be, it's just a cool thing.”
Game Developer Receives Death Threats Following Trek To Yomi Tweet
Many of the negative replies to the tweet seemed to assume that the developer had worked on Trek To Yomi and demanded that they produce some sales numbers to back up their original tweet.
Meanwhile, others went in the opposite direction and seemed convinced that the developer wasn’t actually in the games industry, using the fact that they hadn’t specified the specific games company they worked for in their Twitter bio to demand proof that this was actually the case.
The developer responded to the latter camp by tweeting: “Yes, let me just give my game studio - my place of work to angry console warriors on the internet, because that's a GREAT idea.”
Sadly, the furore refused to die down, leading the developer to have to reiterate that they hadn’t worked on Trek To Yomi, adding: “I was clearly contrasting their deal with the one of my studio to put into perspective how beneficial XGP deals can be.”
They then shared a message they’d received via their Xbox app threatening them and openly encouraging them to commit suicide, saying: “To whoever sent this; I hope you get the help you need. I'm not even mad at you, I genuinely hope you get some professional help because this isn't normal behaviour.”
Earlier today, the developer issued a statement on Twitter providing an update on the situation, thanking their friends, family and coworkers for support and adding: “The last few days have made me feel thankful that I kept my workplace private, because the harassment I’ve been getting would have reached them and they truly don’t deserve it.”
They also shared that they will be moving on from the debacle, encouraging the harassers to block them or log off Twitter.