Assemble Entertainment release an open letter on who they "don't want" as a customer

Catching up on some industry news, a statement from Assemble Entertainment's Founder and CEO Stefan Marcinek entered our inbox recently and it's quite a blunt one.

Assemble Entertainment are the publisher behind quite a few titles like Ultimate ADOM - Caverns of Chaos, ENCODYA, Pizza Connection 3, Endzone, Leisure Suit Larry - Wet Dreams Dry Twice and many more. The CEO, Stefan Marcinek, previously co-founded Kalypso Media and went onto found Assemble Entertainment in 2016 so they've been involved in the games industry for a long time now.

The statement is firmly aimed at bigots and certainly isn't open to interpretation. It goes over some history and then gets directly into the point of the statement:

What I do not like are idiots or, to put it more bluntly, contemptible defecatory orifices!

If you are one of those people who can't accept others because they don't fit your worldview, because they are gay, lesbian, bi, trans or queer, who considers people with a different skin color, religion or ancestry than your own to be foreign or abnormal, who can't stand them or even insults them, in what way ever, or who is incapable of respecting women and is violent; who votes for "parties" that are disgusting and inhuman, supports them, sympathizes with them or is active as a politician for them (yes, I’m referring especially to the AfD in Germany), then I want to make this perfectly clear:

I don't want you as a customer!

I don't want to see you at our events or conferences. Neither as a visitor nor as a speaker!

I don't want to have anything at all to do with you!

If you are one of those people and are about to buy one of our games: Don't!

If you bought one of our games and can still return it: Do so!

Marcinek continues to mention that Assemble simply don't need them, and they're not the centre of the universe or Assemble's bank balance. Marcinek mentions being aware of how "harshly" some may see the statement:

I am well aware of how harshly this statement may be received by some and that some may feel affronted, even though the statement may not be directed at them personally. However, I would like to use this statement to make perfectly clear how important moral and ethical values are to me in the management of my company - and how these should also be communicated to the outside world. Namely, openly and transparently – but, of course, also with the awareness that not everyone will like it. I would like to thank all our supporters, fans and all those who buy our games, play them and - even if not always – love them.

The statement first went live on July 23, 2021. No specific reason was mentioned on why, not that they need a reason to release a statement like this though, we're just mentioning that there seems to be no direct issue they said to cause it. It's definitely a stance to admire though, there's far too much hate being spread around inside companies (hi Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft and more) and outside in gaming communities.

You can see the full statement on their official Twitter.