A developer at Respawn Entertainment has repeated the company’s stance against racism, saying “racial slurs have no place in Apex Legends.”
The statement was made in a reply to a video that surfaced on Reddit. In it, the user claims that they have been banned from Apex Legends for hate speech after calling them out for racist comments.
The other player in question can be heard spouting racial abuse into the team voice chat. After dying in the game and getting frustrated, they begin to insult their teammates. They are heard asking where their teammates are from, going on to call them “r*ping *ss n-words”.
Despite the victim issuing a report against the racist player, there seems to have been a mistake in the process. As such, the victim was banned instead of the perpetrator. Luckily, a Respawn developer was on hand to provide some clarity.
A live technical designer at Respawn responded to the video, saying, “Send this in via a support ticket. Racial slurs have no place in Apex Legends.”
The developer clarifies that they have no control over the ban hammer personally and that the user will have to submit a support ticket to get their account unbanned. Their main priority is ensuring that the player heard dealing out racial abuse is banned too: “[I] just wanted to make sure the people spilling the hate gets processed.”
Developers are taking a firm stance against toxicity
Unfortunately, racism is rife among several video game communities. A few months ago, we reported on the American rapper T-Pain who went on a rampage against racist Call of Duty players.
Game companies like Activision and Riot Games have stood firm on their stances against racism and toxicity in the past. Activision recently said that there was “no place” for toxic behaviour in Call of Duty games.
Recently, Riot said that it is “committed to making [it’s] games better for everyone who plays them.” As such, the studio now stores temporary recordings of voice chats to further assist in identifying toxic players.
Respawn Entertainment has expressed no such plans to implement similar features to Apex Legends. From evidence surfacing online, it sounds like more action could be needed.
Don’t forget you can find great games and more on the GameByte Shop! Our store is stocked up with the latest games, merch and accessories. We might even have a new-gen console or two! Sign up to our newsletter to be notified of our console drops, deals and more. Please note the GameByte Shop is available for UK customers only.
Featured Image Credit: EA/Respawn Entertainment