Anyone Will Now Be Able to Download Forthog for Free
After the tragic event that befell Monolith Studios: the death of a fellow employee, the team immortalized him in Middle-Earth Shadow of War through the orc character of Forthog. Executive Producer Michael David Forgey died last year of a brain tumor; and with this act, Warner Bros thought it would be a good idea to make his memorial character a $4.99 DLC with $3.50 of the proceeds going to his family. Here’s where things get foggy.
According to the original Forthog DLC trailer, which has since been taken down, only donations in certain US states would go to Forgey’s family. This led everyone to believe that the money from other regions, like Europe, would go directly to Warner Bros. As a result, people called out the company for profiteering off an employee’s death.
Up until now, Warner Bros lacked for transparency, but they’ve since come forward to clarify that the confusion was a matter of interstate and international laws that prevented them from advertising donations in every state and region. A community administrator elaborated with the following statement:
“Although we decided to donate all profits to the family, we only planned to actively promote this donation in the U.S. (excluding certain states based on their charitable promotion laws). We hoped this approach would raise as much money as possible for the Forgey family in compliance with the law. Our decision not to promote the donation outside the U.S.
“We now recognize that tying our donation to sales of the DLC was not the best way to achieve our goal of offering financial support to the family and creating a lasting memorial to Michael Forgey. We sincerely apologize to the fans and to the Forgey family for the confusion we created.
“To ensure the two original aims are still met and to provide transparency to the community, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will instead make a donation directly to the Forgey family.”
With all that said and done, there’s full transparency. Warner Bros will assist the Forgey family financially and everyone who plays Middle-Earth: Shadow of War will get to experience the campaign with Forthog Orcslayer at no extra cost. That way, the man and the character can be remembered by millions.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War arrives for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 10, 2017.