Crytek CEO asks GDC audience to kill 'killerspiel' law, won't leave Germany unless forced out
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Aug 17th 2009 at 9:04AM }
Yerli's tone about the German law was more serious than his previous statement on the subject, so we caught up with him after the keynote. We asked if he's threatening to leave the country if the law passes, or if he thinks the company will be pushed out. He told us, "This is the point, two or three years ago we were thinking 'What is this?' This is like disrespecting our company.' We said we will not change our strategy. Today we think we are literally forced to make a change."
It appears that Yerli still isn't looking to change Crytek's direction, despite the government threats. And it appears he really doesn't want to move, telling us, "If you move a company, you think of it as: let's move the company strategically, so we get more benefit out of this country. But moving it because a law comes in is too reactive for us. We're not thinking of moving unless the law happens."
[Image: Dennis Stachel]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
The Baron @ Aug 17th 2009 9:08AM
This is what pisses me off about both anti-game and anti-cannabis legislation. People will just invent studies (politicians in particular) and get away with saying "oh yes, people who play call of duty are fifteen times more likely to have a school shooting". It's bullshit and I'm horrified that such miscarriages of truth can occur right within the developed world.
nighttime__ @ Aug 17th 2009 9:35AM
It doesn't help when a lot of the crazies that commit high school shootings just so happen to play FPS games.
Why couldn't they all practice that shit by playing Horsez?
SpydaKat 17 @ Aug 17th 2009 10:14AM
It's the new scapegoat, back then it was tv now they've shifted to something that's easier to make up bullshit claims against.
The Baron @ Aug 17th 2009 12:49PM
The problems are obviously just mental illnesses or mental trauma brought on from being bullied/outcast. You don't even need to have studied psychology to see that.
If politicians weren't so committed to attracting the stupid vote in the laziest way possible, we wouldn't see this kind of discrimination. Taking time to identify people with problems and treat them, and to help build up mutual respect in schools sounds a bit complicated, so let's just ban a completely irrelevant, causally-unproven form of media that people with these problems tend to seek out.
StormX @ Aug 17th 2009 1:11PM
Here's one many many MANY people need to learn, not just politicians:
Correlation does not imply causality.
Just because 2 things are closely related(lets say...people that shoot up place X, and playing violent videogames) doesn't mean one caused the other.
The classical example is murder rate and ice cream sales. Both go up during the summer. Does that mean ice cream makes you kill people? Or is there possibly additional factors that are related to both? Say...warm weather making people go outside more.
That said, can exposure to violence desensitize some people to violence, and perhaps in extreme cases, provoke them to more violent tendencies? It's probably very likely. But it's not the responsibility of the government, nor the game makers to regulate or restrict these things.
I'm fully in favor of a rating system that requires games marked over a certain level to require valid 18 to purchase, because then if kids are playing these games, blame can be put on the appropriate source: the people buying the games for the kids and failing to make an intelligent and responsible buying decision.
Laws should be used to hold the appropriate parties responsible, not to prevent people from having a choice entirely.
jynxycat @ Aug 17th 2009 9:16AM
Germany is surprisingly strict against their violent games.
Even Soldier of Fortune on the 360/ps3 had ZERO gore in it for Germany :L
Rob S. @ Aug 17th 2009 9:44AM
I guess they saw what happened the last time someone promoted violence, and really don't want it to happen again.
Barozi @ Aug 17th 2009 10:04AM
Soldier of Fortune Payback is BANNED in Germany. There is no cut version.
The Dark Wayne @ Aug 17th 2009 11:47AM
maybe they banned that one for sucking
epsilon343 @ Aug 17th 2009 9:55AM
Wow...first thing I noticed was that nice Burberry polo. Too bad it's probably like $500 in the US :(
odnetninog @ Aug 17th 2009 11:11AM
Huh? I wear walmart clothes. Is this 1337 speak?
MasterInsan0 @ Aug 17th 2009 10:40AM
Ironically, although they may be doing this to "protect the children", in doing so they move one step closer to a fascist state...again.
aristokrat @ Aug 17th 2009 11:19AM
It seems like he's sad about the prospect of having to choose between his love of game development and his country. It's a shame that short-sighted politicians would ever cause people to have to make that decision.
ChomskyKnows @ Aug 17th 2009 11:32AM
Germany and Australia being harder on games than the US is hard for me to fathom...
HippoHero @ Aug 17th 2009 12:08PM
In America, there are constitution fetishists, who get themselves off to thoughts of the founding fathers and the first amendment.
In Germany, there are WWII apologists, who need to show the world that yes, Germany is no longer a war-like nation.
In Australia, people ride kangaroos, eat vegemite, and play didgeridoos.
So it's actually not that surprising.
Janichsan @ Aug 17th 2009 2:10PM
@HippoHero: Do us all a favour and look up the meaning of the word "apologist".
And maybe you would think different about the German stance against Nazi symbologism when your country had caused a war that in total cost 70 million people their lives.
LaughingTarget @ Aug 17th 2009 12:58PM
Realistic killing, eh? Just have shotguns throw the target back a few feet when shot. There's nothing realistic about hand held weapons throwing bodies around, else the shooter would be thrown the opposite direction by roughly the same distance. That should get around the law.
tomlinson731 @ Aug 17th 2009 1:33PM
Things like this make me even more glad that I live in the states. I mean absolutely no offense to anyone living anywhere else but these anti-gun and anti-violence laws in Europe and other parts of the world are getting ridiculous.
John @ Aug 17th 2009 4:27PM
It's thought control
People here in europe just have a completely different mindset than we do in the states.
A lot of the misconceptions on both sides are just cultural misunderstandings.
Joystiq Hates MRLN @ Aug 17th 2009 8:32PM
It's a pretty difficult law to abide by. Most games feature a conflict between people, and those generally make the best scenarios for games.