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[KyoZz]

Troy Leavitt has left developer Avalanche Software and quit the project, following controversy around his YouTube channel.

Leavitt became the centre of controversy two weeks ago, when journalist Liam Robertson pointed out that the designer senior producer (thx GreenAlien for the correction) had previously uploaded a number of videos in the past that, among other subjects, expressed support for the Gamergate movement and downplayed high-profile cases of sexual harassment.

Leavitt has now explained on Twitter that he has left Avalanche Software, adding that he has "nothing but good things to say about the game, the dev team, and WB Games."
In a follow-up, Leavitt says that he felt "absolutely secure" in his position at Avalanche, but made the choice to resign.

Neither Avalanche Software, nor WB Games, have commented on Leavitt's departure at time of writing. IGN has contacted both for comment.

Hogwarts Legacy: Troy Leavitt Explains Decision to Leave the Project [Updated] - IGN

Hogwarts Legacy's Troy Leavitt has explained his decision to leave the project, saying he has retired, and that recent controversy over his YouTube channel was a catalyst, "but not the cause".

www.ign.com

EDIT:

 

[ButchCat]

 

[Cravis]

 

[Cyberpunkd]

In a follow-up, Leavitt says that he felt "absolutely secure" in his position at Avalanche, but made the choice to resign.

Translation: You either quit or else.

 

[Fbh]

And the Twitter/Mainstream gaming media lynch mob wins again.

 

[whyman]

They have ruined my favourite hobby.

 

[GreenAlien]

He was never the lead designer. He was a senior producer.

 

[Omnipunctual Godot]

Weird, it seemed like the controversy was starting to die down.

 

[BlakeofT]

Pro tip to anyone out there. Don't use social media.

 

[Dick Jones]

He was never the lead designer. He was a senior producer. IGN is trash.

Don't blame IGN. Blame the writer of the original article they plagiarised

 

[GymWolf]

Remember guys, cancel culture doesn't exist.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Pro tip to anyone out there. Don't use social media.

You will probably get a lot of shit from people here for this comment, but I agree. No, not everyone people want to say should be said. It's exactly the same reason why 'being corporate' is a requirement if you want to succeed at work.

 

[mcz117chief]

And the Twitter/Mainstream gaming media lynch mob wins again.

This is the real problem. We keep giving these psychos an inch here a foot there and we never ever draw a line and stand by it. As long as we keep giving them what they want they will keep riding that dopamine train of misery.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

You will probably get a lot of shit from people here for this comment, but I agree. No, not everyone people want to say should be said. It's exactly the same reason why 'being corporate' is a requirement if you want to succeed at work.

Why would he get shit from people? Social media is a cancer on our society that has not brought a shred of goodness to the world.

 

[levyjl1988]

Cancel culture is cancer. It just shows that people behind the screen are 1. Jealous of other people's success. 2. Have nothing better to do.
People jump straight to emotions.

 

[Darrec]

"Fall in line or you're fu***** gone"
Jesus Christ, and people still say cancel culture isn't real.

 

[Adam_802]

SMH

 

[AFMichel]

bye bye

 

[Cornbread78]

What is freedom of speech, yadda, yadda.. oh well, sounds like he was a douche..

 

[Deleted member 17706]

The game looked awesome, but I'm definitely going to wait for some impressions before deciding to buy it now. Unless there are a lot more details to this story, I am definitely wary of anything produced by a team that would stand by and allow this to happen.

 

[Kuranghi]

Even Syrup of ipecac doesn't invoke the urgency of vomiting that news like this does. I await his video.

 

[killatopak]

When will they realize that those who complain about it on twitter was never gonna buy the game in the first place?

All this does is validate their whining. They’ll just be looking for the next game to prey on to satiate their power-hunger.

 

[Noncanon Ship]

Hey guys, while trying to look up his videos to see the controversy, I noticed that Troy Leavitt seems to have deleted one video from his channel that was in the callout screenshot: "Excerpt from Strange World: MGTOW". I'm curious why he deleted this video and what its content was.

Anyone have the original link to it?

EDIT: I internet-sleuthed it myself. Here's the link for anyone who wants to see. It's an excerpt from this longer video. I'm very curious why he deleted this and only this video...

 

[Fbh]

Pro tip to anyone out there. Don't use social media.

For now.
Until we reach a point in the future where having no social media makes you less hireable because "silence is compliance".
Not having the wrong opinions won't be enough, you'll need to be seen actively expressing the right ones.

 

[Dr. Suchong]

So someone said questionable things in the "past"
Surely their "present" words and actions are what counts now? Or am I oversimplifying?

 

[CGiRanger]

So someone said questionable things in the "past"
Surely their "present" words and actions are what counts now? Or am I oversimplifying?

He wasn't Joe Biden


Or on a less political note. Try digging through the dumpsters and skeletons of these so-called "Journalists". I'm sure you'll find a ton of more than questionable things from years ago.

Hell, Jason Crier got notoriety due to attacking a Japanese dev as a pedophile (The Dragon's Crown incident).

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

This blows.

The cancel mob keeps cutting heads and threatening the livelihood of people.

I don’t get why WB is appeasing them, after Rowling’s statements the wokies are going to boycott the game anyway. And you can’t fire Rowling.

 

[Umbasaborne]

Era wont be satiated until someone posts a picture of him homeless and starving in the street. They get erections when they hear that someone said something regrettable five or ten years ago, because it means they found a new person whose life, financial well
Being, and reputation they permanently tarnish

 

[balls of snow]

So we can like hp again? No? Ok then....

 

[drganon]

Ill say it again, the guy who started this shit, Liam Robertson or whatever the fuck his stupid name is, can go eat a bag of dicks.

 

[Spokker]

Era wont be satiated until someone posts a picture of him homeless and starving in the street. They get erections when they hear that someone said something regrettable five or ten years ago, because it means they found a new person whose life, financial well
Being, and reputation they permanently tarnish

The most interesting thing about the coordinated hit pieces on Leavitt is that he never said anything regrettable. I'm sure he stands by every video he ever produced. This wasn't a "got 'em dead to rights" sort of situation where 90% of people would agree that he said something so beyond the pale he's not allowed in polite society. His videos were not hateful or frivolous, and he provided nuanced arguments, examples and data to support his views.

His videos were not newsworthy in the first place, and certainly not worthy of condemnation.

 

[SlimySnake]

Not a fan of gamergate or people harassing sexual assault victims but come the fuck on. The guy didnt rape anyone. Didnt do any crime that he can get jailed or even convicted of. The fact that he can be forced out of his job is insane. Private corporation or not.

He should sue. You cannot terminate employees without cause. or if you can then fuck the laws and write laws to make sure this cant happen.

 

[Hawks Eclipse]

Hey guys, while trying to look up his videos to see the controversy, I noticed that Troy Leavitt seems to have deleted one video from his channel that was in the callout screenshot: "Excerpt from Strange World: MGTOW". I'm curious why he deleted this video and what its content was.

Anyone have the original link to it?

EDIT: I internet-sleuthed it myself. Here's the link for anyone who wants to see. It's an excerpt from this longer video. I'm very curious why he deleted this and only this video...

Probably being considerate enough to a̶v̶o̶i̶d̶ try and prevent collateral damage.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

He left early hoping they wouldn't still try to destroy his reputation for life, he don't know how malicious these people are.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

All Rowling did was tell the truth about "trans" women and now her entire media empire is permanently embattled. Who is the supposedly oppressed group in this equation?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Hey look, I'm a video game maker! Got to tell the world what's going on! And this time it's not a Tweet. It'll be a video!

 

[MiguelItUp]

Translation: You either quit or else.

Considering how much he has said about WB and Avalanche, well, and how much experience he has it sounds like he definitely took the quitting route. Which, I suppose is better than him being let go or fired.

I wouldn't be surprised if he did it because WB/Avalanche kept getting harassed about him being there, etc. Him leaving is the only thing that would stop that, unfortunately. I never bothered going to his YouTube channel, but I'll definitely watch his next video as I'm curious to know what he has to say.

Regardless, a person's personal opinions shouldn't get them fired or harassed. Unless they're a disgusting and messed up person. Which, I wouldn't say this guy really is. If you don't agree with someone's takes, just don't give them your attention and move on. It's crazy how much of a shitstorm some people will make over things they don't like or agree with. Especially when other people DO like it, or don't have a problem with it.

People against bullying going on to bully those they don't agree with. Perfect.

 

[NeoGiffer]

 

[Noncanon Ship]

Probably being considerate enough to avoid collateral damage.

The other guy's channel only has 33 subscribers and has an anonymous handle. I don't think it would negatively impact him.

 

[harmny]

Exactly what I said in the other thread. People saying "oh I don't give them clicks. Just ignore them" are completely missing the point. This is about developers losing their job everyday like this guy.

 

[futurama78]

Does opinions of celebs control peoples lives? Just make games yo. Radical left I guess.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Fucc ReeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesetEra

Seriously. What a cesspool of societal failures, mentally stunted children stuck in grown bodies, thinking the world has to revolve around their idiocy.

These companies will continue to slowly kill their genuine fanbases and customer bases chasing platitudes from the never-satisfieds of places like Era and Twitter. Then when their products lose them record amounts of revenue/profit and end up as objectively worst works creatively, they're left looking stupid.

They bring this fate upon themselves.

For now.
Until we reach a point in the future where having no social media makes you less hireable because "silence is compliance".
Not having the wrong opinions won't be enough, you'll need to be seen actively expressing the right ones.

This is a bigger worry. Fully subverting freedom of speech (including the freedom to not speak) in order to coerce and impose upon folks to speak opinions by necessity, essentially forcing them to speak the "correct" viewpoints or suffer punishment anyway.

With automation only increasing, and the (IMO) fear of removal of agency that comes from things like UBI (something I think they're already trying to grease people up on with these stimulus checks, btw), they can definitely attempt taking advantage of people's desire to work decent jobs by forcing them to take up only approved societal viewpoints that confirm with their political ideology.

Truly sickening, I hope to do my part in not complying with such devilish tricks.

 

[Animagic]

I’m convinced these aren’t actual people on social media. They are bots or botnets that try to convince people to go along with the “majority outrage of the day”, controlled by a few key people.

It’s not far fetched at all actually and explains why gamergate people threaten their support network: the so-called press.

 

[NullZ3r0]

Pro tip to anyone out there. Don't use social media.

Don't use your real identity on social media.

 

[Fox Mulder]

The game and studio will still be attacked by retards regardless of him quitting just because it’s Harry Potter.

 

[futurama78]

Are people like void of like common decency? Let’s chill out and play vijio games

 

[Roufianos]

Funny thing is, he'll now probably make more on YouTube / Patreon then whatever he was on at WB.

Thank you Era for bringing this guy to our attention.

 

[TIGERCOOL]

was looking forward to this game and now there's a good chance there's heaps of shoehorned woke content in it to save face... fuck. As soon as this game was announced they had their pitchforks out because Rawling = Hitler so I doubt this will satiate their bloodlust.

 

[Hawks Eclipse]

The other guy's channel only has 33 subscribers and has an anonymous handle. I don't think it would negatively impact him.

Maybe. I'm just of the opinion that the big ones can defend themselves and usually come out stronger, with PewDiePie being the exemplar. It's the small ones that probably need looking out for.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Does opinions of celebs control peoples lives? Just make games yo. Radical left I guess.

People in media (sports, celebs, music, even video game makers) seem to have their entire existence based on social media. Got to tweet or say whatevers on your mind every two hours. Need to get those pats on the back and boost that depressed ego.

Not surprisingly, it gets people in trouble when dumb things are said. And if caught can lead to a dumb apology too.

A cycle of stupidity.

The more reasonable thing to do is just dont do social media or limit it. I dont see all the execs and directors at my company doing Tweets about life or the company. I just did a search right now. The CEO of my company doesn't even have a Twitter account (US guy). Any our Canadian president doesn't have one either. If either do, it's some hidden family one nobody can logically figure out that has nothing to do with the company or politics.