Middle Earth: Shadow of War is seemingly teeming with loads of controversy thanks to the actions of the publisher WB Games and it seems today that another controversy may have pushed it over the edge.
A member of the development team, Michael Forgey, died from cancer unfortunately during the process of making this game. The team was very upset by this death, so much so that they created a character, Forthog the Orc Slayer, for the game in memory of him. Unfortunately rather than this just being a tribute to a fallen comrade they are actually selling this as a piece of DLC that the user will have to buy.
Now they do say that a majority of the money from the DLC (2/3rds of the price it’s believed to be) will be given to his family however it turns out this is only in a select few states in the US, the other sales go straight to the publisher’s pocket. I’m all for tributes in games, hell I’m even fine with it being paid for if all the money goes to a good cause but the fact that WB will be getting richer thanks to the death of a staff member, that doesn’t sit right with me.
Anyway what do you all think of this? Do you think this is shady and exploitative or do you not see a problem with it? Share your feelings in the comments. That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.