Sucker Punch studio head Brian Fleming confirmed that Ghost of Yotei developer Drew Harrison was fired from the company after she celebrated and made light of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
On BlueSky, Harrison reposted a post from Rock Paper Shotgun co-creator and current Kotaku writer John Walker who wrote, “He died doing what he loved: Being a transphobic, racist bigot.”
Harrison then posted her own commentary, “I hope the shooter’s name is Mario so that Luigi knows his bro got his back.” It’s a clear reference to accused assassin Luigi Mangione who has been charged with shooting and killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.
In follow-up posts, Harrison attempted to play coy about the reference to Mangione. She wrote, “Some of y’all have never heard of the critically acclaimed Mario Bros franchise by Nintendo & it shows.”
In another she added, “Maybe instead of emailing people’s employers y’all should be emailing your reps & demand gun control immediately.”
She then appeared to confirm she was fired for the comments writing, “If standing up against fascism is what cost me my dream job I held for 10 years, I would do it again 100x stronger”
In a statement issued to Kotaku, a Sony spokesman indicated that Harrison had been fired and was no longer working at Sucker Punch, “Drew Harrison is no longer an employee of Sucker Punch Productions.”
Now, in an interview with Game File, Fleming said, “The facts are accurate, Drew's no longer an employee here. I think we're aligned as a studio that celebrating or making light of someone's murder is a deal-breaker for us, and we condemn that, kind of in no uncertain terms. That's sort of our studio, and that's kind of where we are.”
NEXT: New Steam Curator Lists Out Games Of Developers Who Celebrated The Assassination Of Charlie Kirk
Uhhh...
" I think we're aligned as a studio that celebrating or making light of someone's murder is a deal-breaker for us, and we condemn that, kind of in no uncertain terms. That's sort of our studio, and that's kind of where we are.”
Seems rather irresolute. "I think?" "Kind of?" "Sort of?" More "kind of?"
Begone, Sucker Punch. Your token isn't worth the syllables you wasted.
Doesn't matter now. I wasn't going to buy it because the protagonist is a woman played by that insane activist.