Destiny 2 developer, Bungie, has invited a lot of criticism and uproar among netizens after their latest initiative. The developer started an initiative to honour the Hispanic people and commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month which takes place from September 15, 2023, to October 15, 2023.
Although the developer introduced the new initiative out of good faith to promote inclusivity, things didn’t really go as planned. Several users found Bungie’s announcement offensive and claimed that it reflected the studio’s disrespect towards the Latin community.
The developer recently posted an announcement on their official X (formerly Twitter) handle. In the post, Bungie announced the introduction of their new initiative, which is titled Latin@Bungie. The initiative promotes a new program – Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity Association (IDEA).
Being Latin/a/e/o/x is more than just a location on a map, just as being Hispanic is more than the language we might speak.
We are proud to introduce our newest IDEA, Latin @ Bungie: https://t.co/CjP25BPmzy pic.twitter.com/6hldo9t0lD
— Bungie (@Bungie) October 2, 2023
It wasn’t the initiative by Bungie that created a stir, but the way the developer chose to unveil it. Fans were so furious that they expressed their exclusion from the developer as well as the games they made, including the highly acclaimed Destiny 2.
Fans react to Bungie’s Latin inclusivity post
The problem was that Bungie in the tweet referred to Latin people using the term Latinx and Latine. The terms have been met with significant opposition. The terms have not been well-received even among descendants of Latin migrants in the USA
Their opposition is primarily due to linguistic and cultural concerns. The term ‘Latinx’ which stemmed recently in the 2000s is considered to be linguistically jarring. The term was coined to be a gender-neutral or nonbinary term to refer to a person of Latin American identity. Specifically, the character ‘x’ has been used in place of the gendered inflections ‘o’ (used for males) and a (for females).
The LGBTQ and activist communities in the USA were among the first to use the term. The Spanish-speaking population believes that the characters have nothing to do with gender since they are used in words that do not have any gender. Thus they felt that it is an imposition of English linguistic rules on the Latin people’s native language.
A user went on to say, “I’d rather you just call me a slur. It’s Latino and Latina. That’s it.”
I’d rather you just call me a slur. It’s Latino and Latina. That’s it.
— Tyler Reeves (@Deverst21) October 3, 2023
Even after the post, being one of the most significant developers in the gaming industry, fans expected Bungie to be transparent. They expected the studio to address the issue constructively. But that too did not happen, when Bungie did something that they should not have.
The developer decided to hide and suppress comments that criticized their choice of terminology. The controversy escalated to the birth of a trending hashtag #Bungie. Now the question is how Bungie will navigate through this situation and manage to neutralize their action.