Splitgate 2 director apologises for causing "division" following controversial Summer Game Fest appearance
Splitgate 2 game director Ian Proulx has apologised for causing “division in the community” following his controversial Summer Game Fest appearance, in which he wore a MAGA-style “Make FPS Great Again” hat while onstage.
Proulx’s Summer Game Fest segment last Friday almost immediately drew criticism from viewers; some felt using the high-profile platform to attack another developer’s game – he announced he was “tired of playing the same Call of Duty every year” – was tasteless, but it was his hat that seemed to cause most controversy.
Its “Make FPS Great Again” logo clearly invoked divisive US president Donald Trump’s notorious “Make America Great Again” slogan, and now – after initially refusing to apologise for wearing it – Proulx has acknowledged the choice, while ‘not political’, was ill-advised.
“It is really freaking hard as an independent studio to break through the noise,” he explained in a video posted on social media. “We saw it at the TGAs; we had this great trailer and there’s 50 other great trailers, and it didn’t really have an impact. And so at our biggest stage, coming out of beta, we needed something to grab attention and… this is what we came up with.”