Subnautica Sound Designer Fired For Making 'Hateful Statements'

The designer behind Subnautica's audio is no longer part of the Unknown Worlds crew.

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Though many players are enjoying the charms of developer Unknown Worlds' open-world underwater survival title Subnautica, others are getting first wind of a scandal that has resulted in one company employee getting fired.

As reported by several outlets like Rolling Stone and Kotaku, game fans discovered a number of disparaging remarks after diving into the Twitter account of sound designer Simon Chylinski, who reportedly has a history of posting insensitive and often offensive tweets. Many of the posts were centered around racial concerns or made jokes about the likes of gender diversity in gaming.

In addition to what most people would generally consider trolling, at least one post made by Chylinski was made in response to a poll posted by game director Charlie Cleveland, which asked whether users would rather the developers add the option to play as a woman or instead improve the core game.

Chylinski also had a number of other insensitive posts, including ones that made demeaning remarks about immigration, colonialism, the transgendered, and even promoters of "SJW logic." Naturally, when unearthed, these statements didn't set well with Unknown Worlds, who decided to let Chylinski go. Charlie Cleveland himself confirmed the story to Kotaku, giving the following statement:

"Over the weekend we discovered that one of our team members had made many hateful statements online that are against our company values. After discussing the matter with him, we decided to stop working with him immediately.”

Despite the disappointment felt by a number of fans of the game and studio, Subnautica still seems to be a considerable success. The Unknown Worlds team has been working on the title since as far back as 2014, with the game hitting Early Access in December. It earned its full release on PC on Steam just two weeks ago, and it's expected to be landing on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sometime in the future.

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Kevin Tucker is a core component of Shacknews' powerful guide development team. For questions, concerns, tips, or to share constructive criticism, he can be reached on Twitter @dukeofgnar or through e-mail at kevin.tucker@shacknews.com.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 7, 2018 1:30 PM

    Kevin Tucker posted a new article, Subnautica Sound Designer Fired For Making 'Hateful Statements'

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      February 7, 2018 1:45 PM

      [deleted]

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      February 7, 2018 1:46 PM

      [deleted]

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        February 7, 2018 1:50 PM

        Yeah that’s what I’d call a typical inflammatory gamer argument starter. Oh well, indie games. Won’t be the last time we hear something like this.

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        February 7, 2018 2:08 PM

        it is when you're talking about development time but yeah I suppose it looks bad without context

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        February 7, 2018 2:32 PM

        [deleted]

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        February 7, 2018 4:28 PM

        Charlie Cleveland deleted the tweet and apologized for it. He said he wishes the game's protagonist had just been female from the beginning.

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        February 7, 2018 4:32 PM

        I think it was meant as "which one should we focus on first?"

      • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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        February 7, 2018 4:36 PM

        I think it was meant in earnest, but yeah the phrasing is very shitty and makes it sound like a snide remark.

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      February 7, 2018 2:22 PM

      [deleted]

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        February 7, 2018 2:49 PM

        [deleted]

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          February 7, 2018 6:26 PM

          It wouldn't have been worthwhile to post a lot of his tweets verbatim, just figured the highlights would serve the purpose without diving into specific vitriolic comments

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          February 7, 2018 7:31 PM

          This article is definitely better at providing context that's important.

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        February 7, 2018 4:04 PM

        per the link above, specifically: “we need a ‘diversity’ slider in the options. It will make the character progessively [sic] darker more feminie [sic] and less sexy.”

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      February 7, 2018 2:24 PM

      [deleted]

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      February 7, 2018 3:24 PM

      Wait, the person fired WASN'T the person that made the poll? They should go too imo, what a stupid tweet.

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        February 7, 2018 4:42 PM

        [deleted]

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        February 7, 2018 4:53 PM

        he runs the company so a little hard to do that

        i do not think he meant any malice either , Charlie is a good dude who actually wanted the character to have gender options originally but focused on other parts of the game

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        February 7, 2018 6:24 PM

        He's the guy that announced Chylinski was let go, oddly enough

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      February 7, 2018 4:22 PM

      heh what the fuck!! what's wrong with a little humor!

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      February 7, 2018 6:44 PM

      To answer the poll.....it depends, can you build kitchens in the game?

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      February 7, 2018 6:59 PM

      [deleted]

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        February 7, 2018 7:01 PM

        It's not hard for HR to google your name and then it appear more than once in all these gaming news articles.

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        February 7, 2018 7:04 PM

        As a matter of fact my company HR contracts to another company that compiles a Social Media report on applicants. You have to sign a waiver or something saying you're ok with them doing it and saying no pretty much puts your application at the bottom of the tray. That is not the bottom of the pile, but under the tray, which sits on top of the trash can. Not the recycling bin. Though in my county all trash gets sorted by laborers anyways to pull recyclables that end up in the trash.

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          February 7, 2018 7:25 PM

          Just another reason to completely stay off Twitter and social media in general. I prefer to make potential employers and the NSA work HARD and do their fucking job in order to spy on me.

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      February 7, 2018 7:29 PM

      The poll has almost nothing to do with the article other than the guy replied to it.

      I don't understand why anyone has a problem with the poll? Subnautica was made by a small team wasn't it? Everything takes time. You have to make tradeoffs everywhere.

      Sounds like people that are upset by the poll are just looking for reasons to be upset because there's no actual quotes of the remarks that Chylinski made.

    • ArB legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      February 7, 2018 7:55 PM

      This guy was also involved in Charlize Theron's car crash on the set of Boogie Nights. The whole damn hollywood landscape is falling apart.

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