Horizon Forbidden West Developer Says It’s Easy to Ignore Negative Backlash

Homophobic backlash and review bombing due to one specific scene.

Guerilla Games has recently revealed what it did after the negative backlash of a specific Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores scene.

Guerilla Games Narrative Director Ben McCaw and Lead Writer Annie Kitain recently spoke with VGC in an interview, revealing their reaction after the backlash. This particular scene in the new expansion caused quite a stir in the gaming community and led to online homophobic backlash and review bombing on Metacritic.

Kitain said the team is always looking to create content that is compelling and emotionally engaging. They were more interested in hearing from players who have actually played the game and learning about their experiences going through the story. On the other hand, for the ones who have not played the game or just trying to be negative online, it was easy for them to ignore those completely.

McCaw would compartmentalize those negative feedbacks and realize that this is a mindset that he could never jive with. He loves to get feedback from the fans who actually played through the game and are happy that they gave constructive feedback about it.

“But overall, we’re just enormously pleased with the reaction, because I feel like when we’re making this, we worry over every detail, and then to see that we’re getting such a positive reaction is really great,” said McCaw.

Horizon Forbidden West Burning Shores is out now on PS5.