Rogue State Revolution Removes 'Coup' Ad After Attack on US Capitol
Indie publisher Modern Wolf has reassessed its promotional material for the upcoming title Rogue State Revolution following the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6. This comes as a proactive measure to separate the association of Little Red Dog Games' upcoming title as it approaches its release on Steam.
The game is a real-time strategy title that works as a political-sim as the player has to manage the country in a way that both secures a foothold in global economics, as well as ensures the player retains their power in the young nation. Acting as a follow up to Little Red Dog Games' debut title Rogue State, the Steam title Rogue State Revolution is invested in the types of politics that have built a rising tension in the US.
In an effort to distance the upcoming title from the events of January 6, Modern Wolf has discontinued an ad campaign for Rogue State Revolution that used phrases like "Survive the Coup" as taglines. According to statements released by the publisher, much of this marketing material had been planned months and weeks before the events at the US Capitol, and the game is set to release on Steam in early 2021. This isn't uncommon for marketing rollouts, and Modern Wolf provides an image of some of these taglines appearing in 2020 to help establish its intent was never to capitalize on recent events.
Modern Wolf CEO Fernando Rizo made additional comments to Vice that corroborate the publisher's official statements made regarding the attack on the US Capitol building. According to Rizo, the "Survive the Coup" ad specifically was the "best-performing" for Rogue State Revolution, having begun running on December 14, 2020. Regardless of when the ad campaign began, however, Modern Wolf ultimately made the decision to remove any notion that the publisher or developer may have been attempting to use the recent news for marketing value.
Considering the current growing state of the market on Steam, avoiding this type of controversy is likely in the best interest for a publisher like Modern Wolf. However, according to the statements released both by the company and Rizo, it would appear that there are also moral and political intentions behind the move. Going beyond simply trying to clean up a marketing strategy that suddenly gained a bad perception, Rizo seems to be attempting to not further provoking the situation in the US, as making a bad impression "isn't even in the top million biggest problems in the world today."
Rogue State Revolution is set to launch in early 2021 on PC.
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