this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2024
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[–] caseofthematts 367 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

I'm just going to post this comment to this thread as well, since this is newer. Classic shifting of blame and no one taking responsibility for scummy actions.

Fun fact: Funko's current CEO is the ex-president of Wizards of the Coast!

Why is this relevant? Well, under her leadership, WotC sent pinkerton agents to someone's home to threaten them because they got some Magic the Gathering cards early. She said things like Dungeons & Dragons players were under-monetised, pushing to make the Table Top game more like a microtransaction-filled video game, and helped with the OGL scandal.

The OGL, for anyone unfamiliar, was an Open Gaming License WotC had for years with D&D 3rd party creators. It allowed certain things to be created using D&D mechanics and lore by anyone that followed its guidelines and allowances. A couple years ago, WotC tried to change that so they would make more money off of people trying to create things for D&D - to profit off of indie creators passionate about the game. There was a huge backlash, and they eventually went back on this decision.

All this to say, you can see what kind of leader the current Funko CEO is, and what's happening with itch isn't surprising to me.

[–] ChicoSuave 82 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Fucking Pinkertons? That's a company who can use a visit from Luigi.

[–] [email protected] 71 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Literally the company that RDR2 portrays as the bad guys, that sued the makers of the game and lost because they objectively ARE the bad guys.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

They have also had over a century to rename themselves and haven't, which means they want the reputation the name has.

[–] TexasDrunk 33 points 1 week ago (2 children)

If you had a business that boiled down to "corporate mercenary" don't you think it would be incredibly convenient to have a reputation as a villainous bulldog?

There are very few companies who get to pretend they don't give a flying shit about people. This is one who will thrive on that reputation. Pinkertons and whatever Blackwater is now.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

There's a difference between "villainous bulldog" and "association with them may get you shot in parts of america" (Appalachia IIRC)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

Unfortunately, the swing to the right and the rise of shit like "Blue Lives Matter" has changed this in some places. When I was in the western part of Virginia for school, there was a local car dealership called "Pinkerton" and I saw their dealership license plate frames and emblem on a LOT of cars in the area. Many of those cars also had the Gadsden vanity plates and a bunch of blue lives matter, trump, etc. stickers on them.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

And yet Blackwater has renamed itself again and again.

Apparently there is a "whoops, too much" level of villainy, even for villain factories.

[–] Quetzalcutlass 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I think Blackwater renamed to avoid tarnishing whoever was hiring them, not because they themselves disliked their reputation. If their employment wasn't at the mercy of elected officials who have to care about optics, I bet they'd still be parading around their old name with pride.

It's been decades and the first name that pops into my head when someone says 'PMC' is still 'Blackwater'. Do you have any idea how much war crime they'll need to do to get back that level of brand recognition?

[–] donuts 75 points 1 week ago

That's quite telling, thanks for sharing.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Name the CEO. Image too, or wiki link.

Let's stop letting scummy people hide behind brands and companies.

[–] tb_ 33 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

Hell yeah! Thank you. I would have but was on spotty mobile

[–] HowManyNimons 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
[–] jaggedrobotpubes 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

We need to compile a list of shitty executives for boycotting purposes. No more "this company did a bad thing". No. We need exactly this, with "this is David Davidson, who led the enshittification of ABC, Inc"

It needs to be a document, a wiki, of exactly the shitty things those people did so that businesses will have monetary reasons to want to avoid shitty executives.

Let's help those poor, poor companies from being victimized by those awful greedy people. The poor things.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Peter Molyneux is going to require an entire volume bound in leather at this right