Nazis Angry With Wolfenstein Franchise
posted by Misha Thomas | November 29, 2017 | In Arts and CultureThe newest game to the Wolfenstein franchise has emotionally upset the White supremacists and Nazis of the gaming world with the release of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Creator Bethesda released a nine-second teaser trailer on Twitter, in the video viewers can see Nazis marching through the streets of America. A caption appears reading, “Not My America,” the next caption reads in front of a swastika flag, “Make America Nazi Free Again.”
Indeed the most ironic news from Wolfenstein’s release comes from individuals belonging to neo-Nazi groups that believe Bethesda is seeking profit from the current political discourse.
In The New Colossus, gamers play as Blazkowicz and fight alongside his team who plan to rally together America to start a revolution and fight back against their Nazi rulers.
Wolfenstein II‘s marketing team proclaimed “No More Nazis” on social media posts advertising the game. In no time at all, this game has lifted the veil revealing America’s white-hood-wearing Nazi saluting citizens. Boasting in their anti-Nazi beliefs, Bethesda offended neo-Nazis so much that online disputers threaten to boycott the game altogether, believing their actions considered an act of #TheResistance.
It is clear that proud Nazis are unaware of how long Wolfenstein has produced first-person shooter game with the goal being to kill Nazis. The first of the franchise debuted in 1981, Castle Wolfenstein, was a stealth game, playable on computers. In 1992 Wolfenstein, 3D was released, which reinvented the game making it one of the very first popular first-person shooters, according to Vice.
Wolfenstein II is set in the 1960s. Within this alternate world, the Nazis were able to win World War II; the Third Reich conquered Europe and began eliminating all forms of resistance. An important time of change in America took place during the ‘60s. If Nazis were not already furious, Grace Walker will make them livid. Her character leads the rebellion of the Black Liberation Front – a direct reference to the Black Liberation Army, an actual organization that was linked to the Black Panthers. Upon meeting her in the game, she points out the innate racism already dwelling in America before the Nazis arrived. She tells Blazkowicz that not all white Americans even want to be free of the Nazis.
Bethesda public relations vice president Pete Hines encourages developers to take issues of importance and build games on that foundation. “Games are a powerful platform to explore all kinds of topics,” he told Vice. “Their ability to immerse players in an alternate role, in an alternate world, like Wolfenstein’s Nazi-infested America, allows players to actually feel and experience the emotions of the situation. Games like BioShock and This War of Mine have been expressive and powerful experiences that reflected topical issues and politics, and the video game industry is a more well-rounded and thoughtful medium because of them.”
Wolfenstein: The New Colossus narrative designer Tommy Bjork agrees saying, “We’re trying to incorporate the idea of freedom. America being this country that is in many ideas was founded on freedom, and just being completely under totalitarian control, freedom is completely oppressed. You can’t think what you want to think, you can’t be who you want to be—that idea is something that’s really interesting to explore. Exploring what this idea would look like in an alternate-1960s America is, quite frankly, downright uncomfortable in 2017 America, where freedoms are indeed being eroded and propaganda is being pushed out with startling regularity.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.