A trio of tattoos that featured Nazi symbols or imagery have been removed from the prison-set survival game Scum, a discovery and removal that both fall within days of the game’s Early Access launch.
As reported by Polygon, both developer Gamepires and publisher Devolver Digital have shared an apology, with the latter noting that it plans to review the game for other inappropriate imagery.
While some games like Destiny 2 and Batman: The Telltale Series have had to patch out offensive or inappropriate images due to unintentional use in the past, the images found in Scum were included intentionally to, according to a statement from publisher Devolver Digital to Polygon, “assist in portraying a realistic element of prison culture and the horrid elements within it.”
“This content has been patched out as of this morning, and Devolver Digital are currently conducting a full review of all assets and content in the game with Gamepires,” said a representative from Devolver. “We strongly condemn any and all use of hateful symbology in our games and agree it should have never been in the game regardless of creative intent or realism. Devolver Digital apologizes unreservedly.”
Gamepires further elaborated on the tattoo’s inclusion in the game, saying that “our intention was to create an atmosphere of the worst of the worst criminals in Scum, and to portray the horrible type of people who would find themselves in a ‘fight to the death’ situation for a futuristic reality show where the worst criminals are pitted against one another.”
“Since our initial response on our forums we’ve discussed this as a team and with our publisher and agree wholeheartedly that this content was unnecessary, should not have been included, and have removed it,” continues the developer’s statement. “We apologize for this misstep and promise to our fans that we will take more caution in our approach moving forward.”