Deus Ex: Mankind Divided ‘Augs Live Matter’
A little over a month ago, the promotion team for the upcoming Square Enix game, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided found themselves in a little bit of hot water over what some considered a very insensitive title for their live-action game trailer. Titled ‘Mechanical Apartheid’, the trailer was criticized in length over at Polygon for showing insensitivity to the crisis that once plagued South Africa. The word apartheid means ‘separateness’ in the native Afrikaans tongue of South Africa. For those of you who may not know this is in reference to a time when white leaders were at the top of a brutal governmental system of political oppression and racial segregation in the country. Without a doubt, this is definitely something to be sensitive to.
It seems like the promotional team has dipped their toes in that hot water once again with a recently released image that features a sign that states ‘Augs Lives Matter’. You’d have to have been living under a rock these days if you hadn’t heard about the Black Lives Matter movement sweeping not only the US and Canada but very likely worldwide. The BLM movement is in answer to the systemic violence on Black lives that has been seen time and time again from police. Now, that conversation is for another time, and quite frankly not really a conversation for a video game site, but the question remains; is this a slight or insensitive take on the BLM movement?
It didn’t take long for Twitter to light up and there have been responses from all over the gaming world with one developer, Malcolm Pierce stating that the sign is something akin to a poor taste ‘Family Guy reference joke.
Re: the Deus Ex artwork, *yes*, sci-fi can/should create parallels to comment on real, modern day issues but that’s not what that art does
— Malcolm Pierce (@RedbirdMenace) August 2, 2016
“Aug lives matter” is political pastiche. It’s a Family Guy reference joke, but serious. It has no meaning other than what it steals. — Malcolm Pierce (@RedbirdMenace) August 2, 2016
A gameplay designer on Mass Effect: Andromeda, Manveer Heir went so far as to say that even if the reference made sense in the game and was treated with respect it lacked the context needed to hold weight in a simple advertising photo.
Even if SOMEHOW in game the whole “Aug Lives Matter” is done really well, in advertising it is devoid of context and highly problematic.
— Manveer Heir (@manveerheir) August 2, 2016
This managed to get a response from Andre Vu, a member of the Deus Ex marketing team who stated it was nothing more than a coincidence. He further stated that the words were thought of long ago and well before BLM came to life.
@manveerheir no u r just trying prob, these words were thought in our game way before the current events. Unfortunate coincidence for sure
— Andre Vu (@GeneralVu) August 3, 2016
The debate over whether or not this is all culturally insensitive, a coincidence, or pretty much just an over reaction rages on. They say that any press is good press though and it looks like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is getting all the press it can handle. What are your thoughts, readers? We’d love for you to let us know in the comments.