THQ Nordic Faces Backlash After 8chan AMA

Publisher THQ Nordic, owners of properties such as Darksiders and Destroy All Humans!, performed an AMA with two members of their staff the day of February 26th, 2019. Where the issue lies is in where they chose to host it: the image board site of 8chan, which was blacklisted from Google search in 2015 for possible child pornography.

Jacob Peterson 2019-02-27

Publisher THQ Nordic saw backlash from the gaming community following an AMA hosted on image board site 8chan earlier today.The controversy came due to the platform, 8chan, having been temporarily blacklisted from Google search after allegedly hosting "child abuse content", according to search results from the time. The search ban lasted between the 14th and the 18th of August in 2015.

Nordic sent out a tweet attributed to Phillip Brock, the THQ Nordic PR and Marketing Director who also answered questions on the AMA, apologizing for their involvement with the site.

The publisher also sent a similar statement to Engadget after being asked to clarify, which read as followed:

"I personally agreed to this AMA without doing my proper due diligence to understand the history and the controversy of the site. I do not condone child pornography, white supremacy, or racism in any shape or form. I am terribly sorry for the short-sightedness of my (!) decision, and promise to be far more vigorous in my assessment of these activities in the future. This was not about being edgy, this blew up and I very much regret to have done it in the first place."

THQ Nordic's most recent published title is Darksiders 3, after having purchased the Darksiders IP and the THQ trademark, following the original THQ company's closure in 2012.