Square Enix releases and quickly pulls Hitman social app amidst backlash

Yesterday Square Enix launched a Facebook app in which you could 'put hits on your friends.' Developed by PR agency Ralph, it let you choose one of your friends and contract 47 to go and kill them for a variety of reasons, such as 'his tiny *****', 'her small tits' or 'her ginger hair'. A video was then sent to your victim showing them exactly how 47 killed them.

They somehow did not see any problem with this when it was released, but shortly after Rock, Paper, Shotgun posted a news article on it someone realised their error and pulled it down. Square Enix issued an apology, saying:

“Earlier today we launched an app based around Hitman: Absolution that allowed you to place virtual hits on your Facebook friends. Those hits would only be viewable by the recipient and could only be sent to people who were confirmed friends.

We were wide of the mark with the app and following feedback from the community we decided the best thing to do was remove it completely and quickly. This we’ve now done.

We’re sorry for any offence caused by this.”

Oh, confirmed friends. They probably thought it would only work if you had uploaded a scan of your BFF heart locket or your matching bicep tattoos of two minotaurs who, when you put your arms together, appear to be high fiving. Or more likely they don't understand the concept of friends since if I told one of my female friends I was going to kill her because she has small tits I would be freaking burned alive.

The reason I'm bringing it up today is because the entire situation was followed up by an impassioned plea from Gamasutra's Leigh Alexander for Marketers to start caring about video games. It's a good article and well worth a read, although I do have one issue - the central premise - marketers and PR don't understand who gamers are.

In truth though, they know exactly who their audience is. It's the same audience that buys and praises a game with stripper nuns and eye rolling gay jokes and 'stealth' made up almost entirely of hiding behind boxes. That last part isn't really the same thing as the first two but it annoys the heck out of me. And Joaby. And Junglist. And while I'd like to say that isn't who gamers are, it is apparently who half of us are if you go by reviews.

If gamers are going to keep giving developers a pass for their ridiculous nonsense, then what the heck else are marketers supposed to think? Marketers are sad and strange creatures, they aren't capable of doing things without prior research. In other words, it was us alright? They learned it by watching us.