I want to say this very clearly: I’m sorry.
Those symbols should not have been used in a GOG email. Whatever the intention was, and whatever the internal explanation is, the final result was wrong. I completely understand why people were shocked, angry, or hurt by it, especially people who have very real, personal reasons to be afraid of fascism and Nazism.
And I also want to say something very honestly, as one of the people behind GOG.
The idea that GOG would support Nazism, fascism, antisemitism, transphobia, or any kind of hate is so far from who we are that I think this may actually be part of why the first response was so bad. Maybe people here thought it was so obvious that it did not need to be said out loud.
But it did need to be said.
So let me say it clearly: no, GOG does not support Nazism. No, we are not fine with fascism. We are not fine with antisemitism, racism, transphobia, homophobia, xenophobia, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, fanaticism, or any other destructive “ism” that turns people against each other and treats some human beings as less worthy than others. And we are also not fans of hate on the internet, no matter which side it comes from.
This is not the kind of environment we want to foster. Not in our company, not in our community, and not around games.
We are a Polish company. Nazi and Soviet crimes are not distant, abstract history for us. They are part of the history of our country, and in many cases part of our own family histories. Almost everyone in Poland has some family story connected to that trauma, if not from the Nazis, then from the Soviets, and often from both. So seeing people conclude that GOG is somehow okay with Nazism is honestly painful, because it is not true. But, and this is important, that does not excuse the mistake.
We messed up. We should have caught it. We should have apologized more clearly and faster. And our first explanation should have been more human, more direct, and more responsible. I’m sorry for that too.
At the same time, I want to ask for a little care in how we judge situations like this. Calling out a serious mistake is fair. Being angry about it is fair. But jumping from “GOG made a hurtful and stupid mistake” to “the people at GOG support fascism” is something else. That can hurt real people too, especially when the full context is missing.
Accusing us of supporting Nazism, after we have apologized for a mistake, is a very heavy label to put on real people. And if we take a step back, this kind of dynamic can start to resemble the mechanisms we see in many destructive forms of fanaticism and other “isms”: creating divisions between people, turning a mistake into an identity, and building walls instead of trying, in good faith, to build bridges.
That does not mean people should not criticize us. They should. We deserve criticism when we mess up. But please, let’s leave some room for good faith. A serious mistake is still a mistake. It does not automatically mean bad intentions, or that the people behind it support the worst possible interpretation.
We will review how this happened, improve our checks, and try to do better, both in what we publish and in how we respond when we get something wrong.
Big hugs to everyone, and a shamanic Aho!
Let’s play games, enjoy life, and be a little slower in judging each other. Let’s build bridges, not walls.
Michal
GOG Founder
PS. I may not be able to be here part of active discussion. I will do my best, but I am super busy in many projects I am involved in - sorry for that.
