Chinese game developer faces boycott after CEO’s sexually explicit remarks

A string of sexually charged online comments from the founder of a Chinese game developer caused a furor on the Chinese internet last week, prompting intense criticism from female video game players calling for changes to the male-dominated culture of gaming in China. Later, the backlash intensified after several old job posts by the game studio resurfaced, which revealed that sexually objectifying women has long been part of the company culture.

At the center of the controversy was Féng Jì 冯骥, the founder and CEO of Game Science, a Hangzhou-based indie studio whose employees were mostly former employees of Chinese video game giant Tencent. On August 20, Game Science unveiled a 13-minute trailer for its highly anticipated role-playing video game Black Myth: WuKong 黑神话·悟空.

While the clip was instantly popular, with hordes of gamers saying that the game might be the best one ever made by a Chinese company, things quickly took a turn when Feng posted a series of self-congratulatory comments on Weibo.

“I want to expand our workforce and hire more people. I want to be licked so much that I can’t have an erection anymore,” he wrote (in Chinese) in a Weibo post. “I know you guys just happen to be so horny. I’m glad that the trailer has given you some satisfaction.”

In another Weibo post explaining his understanding of video games, Feng wrote (in Chinese), “My goal is to give blowjobs to people who appreciate my work, and to help people who share my vision achieve orgasms.”

Feng’s posts immediately raised eyebrows on social media, with some critics calling his remarks “inappropriate” and “offensive.” But Feng doubled down in a post on August 22, in which he wrote (in Chinese), “The trailer got me wet several times. I can still feel the pressure in my pants at the moment.”

Meanwhile, some angry internet users discovered that making sexual jokes at the expense of women not only was Feng’s personal problem, but also seemed deeply seated in Game Science’s workplace culture. For instance, in a recruitment campaign in 2015, the studio used explicit graphics and suggestive text in some of its job advertisements. “In addition to hookup buddies, we promise to provide more thoughtful services,” the company wrote in a post boasting free snacks in the office.

As critics pointed out, by making its job advertisements specifically appealing to male candidates, Game Science pandered to the antiquated ideas that women have no interest in video games, and that women shouldn’t be welcome in games at all, as either players or critics or developers.

“I can’t believe it’s 2020 and sexism is still a thing in the gaming world. What have female players done to you to make you so hostile against women? To the developers who worked on this game, do you guys have moms? Do you only eat food made by men in restaurants? You think you are superior just because you have a penis? I hope this game will be a huge flop,” a Weibo user wrote (in Chinese).

But not everyone thought Feng’s remarks were problematic. Some people, mostly men, have come to Feng’s defense, saying that those who felt uncomfortable about Feng’s sexual jokes were just “making a fuss out of nothing.” Some also said (in Chinese) Feng should not be bothered by the “malicious attacks” from “hyper-sensitive feminists” because “women are not the game’s target consumers anyway.”

Contrary to popular belief that Chinese gamers are primarily men, a number of studies in the past few years have indicated that video games have much broader appeal. According to a 2019 report on China’s gaming industry, women accounted for a solid 46% of roughly 640 million total Chinese video game users. The report also revealed that female game players contributed 52.7 billion yuan ($7.5 billion) in 2019, or 22.8% of the total sales revenue of China’s gaming industry last year.

But despite female players now representing a significant stake in what has become a multi-billion-dollar industry, gaming culture in China remains unwelcoming and hostile to women. In the world of competitive video game playing, also known as esports, female players still face a lot of sarcasm, doubts, and discrimination from their male counterparts. Meanwhile, over the years, Chinese video games aimed at women have attracted a fair amount of criticism from game researchers, who argue that by reducing complex mechanisms and encouraging frivolous in-game purchases, developers who make the games actually reinforce gender stereotypes rather than alleviating them.