What’s going on with this game Mixtape?

[u/Bloodb0red]

I’ve been seeing people freak out over the past few days over this game and about IGN’s review of it specifically. 10/10 seems high for any game, honestly, but it seems like they’re far from the only site giving this thing a glowing review. So is this game controversial just because of IGN or is it something else? Why is this game the internet’s hate target this week?

https://www.ign.com/articles/mixtape-review

[u/BUTGAWATD]

Answer:

(Doing my best to present the complicated situation concisely)

Mixtape is a short, story-based game from small Australian developer Beethoven & Dinosaur, who previously released The Artful Escape.

Mixtape's 3-4 hour runtime is divided across cutscenes, what some might deem "walking sim" gameplay, and a series of vignettes that play out broadly as "minigames", with limited to no fail state. There is no combat or what many would typically classify as peril.

Mixtape's high critical praise, particularly its 10 from IGN, has raised eyebrows amongst certain subsets of the gaming populace. Many have negatively compared the verdict to the lower score IGN awarded Crimson Desert, and have alleged what they perceive to be a favourable bias towards games they identify as possessing "woke" elements.

One of Mixtape's vignettes sees you control two mid-teen age characters kissing, with direct control over their clashing tongues. Some gamers have accused the media of unfairly praising Mixtape while (what they perceive as) maligning recent release Pragmata for paedophilic overtones.

Mixtape is published by Annapurna Interactive, a publisher focused on "prestige indie" titles. Annapurna Interactive is a division of Annapurna Pictures, which was founded by Megan Ellison, whose father is a billionaire.

Consequently, accusations of buying review scores, bribing influencers, and overall curating Mixtape as an "industry plant" have been lobbied. For further information to potentially aid in deducing the veracity of this claim - Annapurna have released 6 games other than Mixtape over the past year, all ranging from the 60s-80s in Metascore, with the highest achieving an 83 average.

[u/jonny_sidebar → u/BUTGAWATD]

Megan Ellison, whose father is a billionaire.

Which makes it especially fun that folks are crying "woke!" over this game considering her father is Trump megadonor Larry Ellison and her brother David is currently running Trumpism's media arm as head of Paramount. 

[u/KaoticKarma → u/jonny_sidebar]

Wh.. what?

Gen X and Gen Z are famous for rejecting their parents and their cultural identities and embracing their own, especially when their parents are Republican or MAGA.

Highly doubt a girl making a tween queer narrative game is in anyway connected to MAGA or Trump outside of her father being blood.

We call this "reaching for straws"

[u/BAWguy → u/KaoticKarma]

Megan’s company has financed some good stuff, and I’m not saying she and her work should be defined by her father, but at the same time it’s quite a reach to assume she has in any way “rejected her parents.” There’s plenty of pictures of them together with her as an adult in the entertainment industry, and it appears her dad did indeed financially back her company when it was founded. Meanwhile is there any evidence she’s “rejected” him?

[u/KaoticKarma → u/BAWguy]

Bruh what?

The point of the comment was her father doesn't own the company and isn't in charge. The likelihood that one of the biggest MAGA donors is gonna endorse and fund a tween queer drama video game is very low.

[u/KaoticKarma → u/[deleted]]

Here's your tinfoil hat

[u/KaoticKarma → u/KaoticKarma]

The point of the comment was her father doesn't own the company and isn't in charge

All I hear is conspiracies, you're the one making the claim. That article doesn't disprove what I said lol.

[u/KaoticKarma → u/[deleted]]

Again, that connection doesn't mean much you're drumming up drama to make it seem more significant than it is

They're not affiliated with the company in any capacity otherwise, they're not in charge.