Companies releasing their games on 9/11. Is it distasteful in your opinion?

[marvelvscapcom2]

Hello everyone . 

I usually don't want to be the one who complains about these types of things or try to be a negative nancy or an SJW but I just wanted to see what everyone else thinks or if they felt the same way about the topic as many gamers have brought this up, especially with Mario Maker. .   


It first happened with Super Mario Maker which was the first I remember but someone may recall another time too, which seemed to be the guinea pig.  I remember seeing SMM was releasing on 9/11 when I preordered and thinking to myself that it was kinda distasteful of Nintendo to set the release date for Japan for the 10th but made sure to put the USA version on the 11th and not at the very least the 12th.   But then they explained it was because of their anniversay celebration, and they wanted to make it as close to the 13th, and on a friday ect..   

But now NBA 2K19 (Mostly American Devs) and the digital version of Shadow of the Tomb Raider Deluxe both huge titles set to release on a day of mourning where the nation tries to remember in sorrow what had happened not so long ago.

Their is much more to gain to avoid the narrative i'd assume with just 1 more day wait.  And although it doesn't bother me, I can't imagine why they would do it from a business standpoint.  Not only is it a sensitive day but also sales would be a tad worst as many people might be doing cookouts in rememberance.  Why not the 12th or the 10th?  It's just a sad day in general imo. Why choose the nations most sensitive and mourned day?   


Do you think it's a marketing decision? I couldn't imagine sales would be lucrative as they would on any another day.  I don't think it could be a ignorance thing as 9/11 is pretty well known.    If it were a JP exclsuive or UK release, it'd make sense because the date has no suggnificance in the culture, but I kinda wonder how the marketing team avoided the elephant in the room. 


I guess one could paint it in the light of they are trying to make a sad day into a happy one by giving the gift of bonding and gaming. .


How do you feel about the topic?  One of my friends pointed it out to me and I just thought of it when I seen the NBA release date in Xbox store.  When you bought Mario Maker in 2015, did you feel a sense of distain or think about it at all?  Do you think it's distasteful or just a release day?   Thanks for sharing . 

[shanty]

Honestly don't care. May make me an asshole. But a game releasing on a day that something bad happened doesn't mean the world needs to stop every year on that date. You can even say us having to change the way we do daily things make the terrorists win something, and forced us to not release on that date ever again. Basically making it untouchable for the foreseeable future. Movies have for some time released on Christmas.

The world moves on. It doesn't take away the terrible things that happened that day because Mario came out. People can still mourn, but are able to let the world move on as it did before.

[98dgreen]

Nope

[kamikazekeeg]

Not in the slightest.  Maybe within the first few years, but we are going on 17 years since the day. 

[aliensstudios]

Nope. It's kind of the same as a movie releasing on Christmas. Are you offended by that?

[badATchaos]

Offence is taken, not given. Unless the company is directly taunting the victims of the attacks I cannot see why releasing a product would be distasteful just because it shares a famous date.

Bad things happen every day. Are people offended when events share the same date as the sinking of the Lusitania? The invasion of Poland? 1556 Shaanxi earthquake? JFK assassination? Jonestown massacre? Orlando nightclub shooting? The day my dog Scruffy died? No. People don't give a crap about other events recent or in the distant past.  If people are offended by something occurring on 9/11 they must be offended by everything.

On a slightly more intellectual point:
It makes me wonder if people would be less offended if the date wasn't in the name of the event? For most catastrophes and acts of terror, the exact date isn't usually represented in the name itself. It's usually the location, what kind of event and year. By having the date of the event be it's defacto name you're more or less forced to be remember it when the date comes around.

[hoshichiri]

I don't have any issue with this at all. I actually take a mild offense at the idea that one cannot do anything fun or unrelated to remembering the tragedy of 2001 on that day. See, my sister's birthday is September 11th. The attacks happened the year after she graduated high school. Can you imagine spending all your birthdays listening to people talk about how awful that day is? Can you imagine trying to plan your big 21st birthday bash with everyone around you talking about people dying? I hate seeing my sister have to feel guilty for having 'the wrong birthday' every year.

I get that many people were affected by the events of that day. I get that they need to do something to remember or mourn. I don't get making others feel guilty for trying to live their lives & do things that no one would normally bat an eye at becuase some angry men did a bad thing on a random day. We don't care if people have sales or special fun events on Memorial Day. No one is freaking out about things occurring on June 12th, December 14th, April 19th or 20th, or even December 7th. Why is THIS one, specifically, so different? If you want to have a memorial, have one- and let the rest of us do our own thing.

[soera]

If you look at the history of the world, Im sure there is something that sucked on every single day on the calendar. Except my birthday, that day will forever be amazing.

[bikingjahuty]

Nope, there are a lot of days throughout history where terrible things happened, some way more infamous than 9-11. Are we going to say it's inappropriate to release games on those days too? I feel like it's essentially another day and also considering it's going on 17-years since it happened I feel like enough time has gone by where we can treat it like any other day while still remembering what happened on it back in 2001.

[ferraroso]

I do believe that it is an immense lack of respect.
September 11th is the anniversary of one of the worst terrorist attacks in history, so not only game companies, but the whole world should show some respect to that date.

I'm, of course, refering to the American backed attack to the Chilean presidential palace on September 11th, 1973.
That act of state terrorism killed the democratic elected president Salvador Allende and ended up establishing the fascist Augusto Pinochet as the dictator of that country for the next 27 years. In the end, the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 1973 resulted in over 30,000 people tortured and in the assassination of over 3,000 innocent Chileans.

[seether]

If people couldn't do anything on a day where something bad happened, nothing would get done any day of the year.

This thread is bad and you should feel bad.

[pizzasafari]

Not at all. The whole idea of holding a specific time of year in such immense regard just because the earth was in vaguely the same position relative to the sun as it was when something bad happened and therefore the whole world should shut down on that date has never sat right with me. Something bad happened, it sucked, it really did, but let's all get on with our lives and let the past be the past. By shutting down the country on the anniversary of a day when terrorists attacked you, the terrorists win. It's like telling the bully they're successfully getting to you, and then reminding them constantly how afraid of them you are. All it's going to do is encourage them.

This thread is bad and you should feel bad.

[kashell]

Not distasteful at all.

[Agozer]

Someone, somewhere, will take offence. Because of course they will.



I personally don't care, it happened 17 years ago.

[turf]

The world doesn’t stop. I still go to work. I still buy groceries. I still carry on.

Most Americans my age and older can tell you exactly what they were doing when they heard about the attacks.  It was a horrific day and the world changed forever.

Do I think the day should be held in reverence?  I do. I think people should also make more of an effort to remember Pearl Harbor Day. I don’t think the world should stop though.

Short Answer:  Doesn’t offend me at all.