For those who are reflexively defensive about anything China related, Chinese state supported media covered this story years ago. Chinese women themselves have been vocal about the creepy shit from this studio and sexism in the industry in general.

Game Science may not have been prepared for all that attention. The day of the trailer’s release, founder and CEO Feng Ji wrote on microblogging platform Weibo: “We’ve been staffing up with new hires, and I’ve been sucked off so many times I can’t get an erection anymore.” Two days later he came back for more, writing, “Watching it (the trailer) made me wet too… My pants are about to burst!”

Soon, internet sleuths had unearthed a pattern of lewd and offensive job postings by the company dating back to 2015. In one of the ads, a mouse cursor is placed over the private parts of a nude woman in a painting. The job advertisements were taken down after the controversy broke, but their sheer crassness drew harsh criticism, including from the country’s female gamers, many of whom had enthusiastically promoted the trailer when it was released.

Is there any way to raise the status of female gamers and reduce sexism in gaming? Any real solution must involve improving the social status of Chinese women in general. But as for what the game industry can accomplish on its own, bringing more female voices in would be a good start. This would hopefully force companies to respect and consider women’s perspectives before making design decisions.