This weekend, we reported that some players took umbrage with Tiny Tina, a character from Borderlands 2 and how she used "black lingo." Gearbox was receptive to these players, listening to their concerns and even offering to change the character in future updates should they be convinced that Tina's dialogue was racist.
Mike Sacco, a creative developer with the World of Warcraft trading card game, was one of the players involved in the dispute. Today, he tweeted that he no longer works at Cryptozoic, where he was previously a contractor.
I'm gonna confirm two things: That people tried to pressure Cryptozoic into firing me, and that I no longer work at Cryptozoic.
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 5, 2013
The reasons why are not clear.
hahahaha a dude threatening to "send this tweet to Kotaku" like all of my tweets aren't publicly available and Kotaku is the fucking FBI
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 4, 2013
"you better pay up if you don't want the coppers to see you reasonably arguing your point with someone who's attacking you"
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 4, 2013
I can't legally comment further. Thanks for respecting that.
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 5, 2013
Note: I was a contractor, not a bona fide employee, so regardless of the circumstances of leaving it's legally fine, please don't ask
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 5, 2013
Thanks for the support. I have a few applications out anyway - knew this day would come - so I'm staying positive
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 5, 2013
But if you have a lead for work, let me know! I live in SoCal but can move for the right job!
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 5, 2013
In the end this came down to me and the things that I believe in so I feel okay about it. I steer my own ship
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 5, 2013
I reached out to Sacco for comment, but he said he cannot legally say anything on the matter. I've also contacted Cryptozoic, and will update this story if I hear back from them.
UPDATE: Cryptozoic responds as follows:
To clarify, Mike Sacco was never an employee of Cryptozoic Entertainment. He was a contractor.
We asked him not represent himself as an employee of Cryptozoic. After the message was delivered, Mike quit. We like Mike and we are as surprised by his reaction as you are.
UPDATE 2: Mike's original tweet has been deleted, though you can still see what he said. He offers the following reason for the deletion:
Okay, in my initial tweet I cast the company in a more negative light than I had intended, so I got rid of it
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 5, 2013
UPDATE 3: Sacco on his contract:
The reason I didn't clearly state that I quit was because I felt the other stipulation - asking me to stop talking about "the controversy" -
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 5, 2013
would violate the terms of my contract.
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 5, 2013
So yeah, that's why I quit. If the order had been simply to remove the company name from my profile, I would have agreed no problem
— Mike Sacco (@mikesacco) February 5, 2013
Image Credit: The Crimson Hammer