Video Game Apologies

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About

Video Game Apologies, also known as Game Developer Apology Letters, refer to a series of memes and social media posts parodying apologies issued by video game developers and publishers over the quality of their recently released games. The trend was prompted by Cyberpunk 2077 publisher CD Projekt Red issuing several apologies for release delays over a few months of 2020. After a large number of similar apologies were issued by various game companies in the early 2020s, the parody trend gained virality on Twitter and Reddit in May 2023, with some posting parodies and memes mocking them.

Origin

The trend of publishers and developers apologizing for delays in development started with Bethesda Game Studios issuing^[1] a statement on October 22nd, 2018, in which the company apologized for bugs and performance issues that plagued Fallout 76 upon release (shown below).

On January 16th, June 18th and October 27th, 2020, video game developer CD Projekt Red issued three apologies^[2]^[3]^[4] for repeatedly delaying the release date of the role-playing game Cyberpunk 2077 (example shown below, left). The multiple apologies spawned a meme format in which users humorously edited the yellow template used for the statements (example shown below, right).

Spread

Between 2022 and 2023, multiple video game publishers issued similar apologies for their games, both for delays and the quality of the released product. For example, on February 3rd, 2023, Naughty Dog issued^[5] an apology for delaying the PC port of The Last of Us Part I (shown below, left). On April 28th, Electronic Arts apologized^[6] for the performance issues of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (shown below, center). On May 26th, Daedalic Entertainment apologized^[7] for the release quality of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, with the tweet gaining over 1,200 retweets and 14,600 likes in four days (shown below, right).

The latter apology, combined with the large number of similar apologies issued by video game companies in the earlier months and years, spawned a viral discussion on Twitter and a parody trend. For example, on May 26th, 2023, Twitter^[8] user @LookAtMyMeat1 tweeted a collage of apologies issued by various companies which gained over 4,900 retweets and 45,000 likes in four days (shown below, left). On May 26th, Twitter^[9] user @WhereAllBegins posted a parody apology for the enhanced edition of Silent Hill 2 that gained over 3,500 retweets and 38,200 likes in four days (shown below, right).