Playtonic has today announced that YouTuber, JonTron has been removed from Yooka-Laylee with a post-release patch.
JonTron is a major fan of the Banjo Kazooie franchise, which led him to voice a character in the upcoming Yooka-Laylee, which is being created by some of the original developers of the Banjo series.
JonTron was recently involved in some controversy due to the fact that he shared a series of far-right views about immigration, ethnicity and nationalism, which people didn’t respond well to.
With over 3 million YouTube followers, fans of JonTron have flooded the Yooka-Laylee forum letting them know that they are boycotting the game.
If I was Playtonic I would be thrilled that my actions caused people who think white supremacy is a form of diversity to skip my game pic.twitter.com/lKBmP1T83l
— Sanatana Mishra (@SanatanaMishra) March 24, 2017
“We recently became aware of comments made by voice artist JonTron after development on Yooka-Laylee had been completed,” the firm told GamesIndustry.biz in a statement.
“JonTron is a talented video presenter who we were initially, two years ago, happy to include as a voice contributor in our game. However, in light of his recent personal viewpoints we have made the decision to remove JonTron’s inclusion in the game via a forthcoming content update. We would like to make absolutely clear that we do not endorse or support JonTron’s personal viewpoints and that, as an external fan contributor, he does not represent Playtonic in any capacity. Playtonic is a studio that celebrates diversity in all forms and strives to make games that everyone can enjoy. As such, we deeply regret any implied association that could make players feel anything but 100% comfortable in our game worlds, or distract from the incredible goodwill and love shown by our fans and Kickstarter backers.”
Yooka Laylee wil release on April 11th for PS4, Xbox One and PC.
