As part of Halo Infinite's Juneteenth Celebrations (an event to commemorate the freeing of enslaved African-Americans) developer 343 Industries added some new cosmetic items to the game's multiplayer. It was soon discovered that one of these items — a nameplate palette option — was titled 'Bonobo', a variety of ape.
In a swift move, the team has since altered the name of the palette to 'Freedom', along with issuing a statement on the content change. Here's what head of 343 Industries, Bonnie Ross, had to say:
343's John Junyszek also addressed the issue in response to fan concerns on Twitter. Junyszek says that the name actually refers to an internal developer tool used at 343 Industries, one that appears to have originated in the Bungie era of Halo.
Halo Infinite's Juneteenth Celebrations take place from June 14 through June 21, and you can acquire rewards by logging in anytime during those dates.
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Comments 25
Bonobo is a great music producer.
Well that seems a waste of time.
@Kaloudz Pallete in question here is to celebrate Juneteenth, commemorating emancipation of enslaved African Americans. And naming it “Bonobo”, species of ape, is errm.. problematic.
A mistake was made. Apologies were extended. Let's move on.
Oh never mind I just saw why using an apes name was a problem..
The world we now live in is such a silly world. Our lives are too easy now, so we have to seek out/fabricate injustice...
I'm always reluctant to accuse people or organisations of racism (certainly as a kneejerk), but it's hard to believe this wasn't part of some snickering conversation between a couple of employees behind the scenes. In a lot of ways, it feels like this incident encapsulates the "no one is in charge" vibe 343 gives off.
Another unforced error.
Oh dear.. reading the Twitter feed and theirs the usual accusations of flat out intended racism from the company.. what a dumb world we live in...
@Zochmenos Seriously, no! It's the name of an internal toolset the company been using for over a decade plus, I doubt very much anyone even knew it was the name of an ape in the offices responsible. Maybe they should have checked, but it's just plain stupid to accuse them of intended hatred and racism... it's like NO ONE is allowed to make a mistake ever!
Its pretty stupid oversight, given what they are supposed to be celebrating.
Nice to see they can make changes quickly if they want to.....
I had no idea the word referred to an animal species at all, I always thought it was a fictional name for a DJ/electronica musician.
Then again, the nature of trying to make a live service game "culturally relevant" rather than a self-contained product in its own world is going to lead to problems continuously. I remember when games weren't TV....
@S1ayeR74 Mistakes are mistakes and jokes are jokes; however, I don't buy 343's explanation. They didn't choose the term because it was the name of their bug finding program, they chose it because someone associated it with the day/culture/identity/etc.
The incident itself is less concerning to me (I don't think 343 is racist now) than the seeming lack of oversight at 343. Seems like the perfect opportunity for MS to clean this (very important) studio up.
@BartoxTharglod Occum's Razor, to this point, lead to "BONOBO" being a cruel joke someone in QA had missed. I was unfamiliar with the BONOBO tool (as were most until a few hours ago) so I'll accept the explaination also holds weight. Has anything else ever gone live tagged "BONOBO" that you've seen or that people are referencing? It doesn't mean it isn't what happened if there hasn't been another instance, but I am curious of just how much of a "cosmic coincidence" we're being asked to accept.
Beyond all that, I still hope MS uses this as an opportunity to reevaluate the oversight at 343. This is hardly the only QA error since the Halo launch and the entire project reeks of mismanagement.
@Zochmenos You're an example of what's wrong with the world these days.
@S1ayeR74 Relax. This is what reasonable conversations look like.
I may very well be wrong in my original assumptions, and I'm fine with that.
@Zochmenos Your fine with making false accusations of racism and calling it reasonable conversation. No, it’s false accusations because you want to get the pitchforks out.
@S1ayeR74 No. I have/had an opinion, just as you do, but the story has/is evolving as new information comes out. As I said before, I felt like a terrible joke was the only plausible explanation, now less so.
As for pitchforks, I DO think MS should reorganise 343. The Infinite launch has been sloppy as hell and a lot of the goodwill Xbox had built under Phil stopped at 343's doorstep. These things aren't unrelated, even if not one ounce of racism exists within anyone at 343.
Honestly I'm very much to the point of, I'm offended that you were offended by something.
Just getting be too much anymore.
@BartoxTharglod "To this point" referred to me not being properly informed about this tool. I hadn't realized how much I had missed since the story broke last night. That's on me. At that point, the least assumptions lead to it being on purpose.
If you posted links, I can't see them. I'll look around the web a bit. I've seen plenty of "BLAM" over the years but never "BONOBO". Just one additional instance really closes the loop on this IMO.
@BartoxTharglod
Thanks. Are you aware of any instances (off the top of your head) where text has gone live as BONOBO rather than BLAM? I've seen plenty of BLAM in the Halo wild but never a BONOBO.
With respect to "bad faith", I had assumed incompetence from the start. Whether this was technical issue or cruel humor, the usual QA incompetence failed to catch it. In one sense, I gave 343 too much credit in supposing this was something hidden purposely rather than them just missing yet another bug on release.
Why is everyone talking about loads of people being offended and wanging on in a gatekeeping fan boy way?
Someone pointed out a minor could be offensive nameplate. Immediately it was changed. Sensibly.
Pure Xbox have reported it.
There is nothing to protect or gatekeep here.
Something that could be seen as offensive was changed to be sensitive.
Not every story is a chance for you people to leap to defence and attack people for being sensible and sensitive to others.
The entitlement and privilege in here is unreal.
@BartoxTharglod To be fair, it IS exceptional with respect to the specific tag "BONOBO" until we see other examples. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, but it is at least worth noting. The explanation from 343 is plausible though and for some people, that will be enough.
Thank you again for the info. Hopefully this all dries up in an appropriate way.
Pure silliness. A Bonobo is a species of ape similar in appearance to a Chimpanzee. Big deal. If anyone were to make some sort of racial connotation out of the word, that's on them; the world can't revolve around thought-policing and censoring every single word or phrase that might be perceived as offensive to a particular group (although I have to say that the timing of this makes you go, "Hmmm").
At any rate, it's 343's decision (and it's not as if they haven't made some atrocious ones already with Halo Infinite), made out of some Minority Report-style fear of potential future criticism or litigation because people love to find anything they can to get "outraged" over. Such is the hot mess of an insane world we are living in anymore.
Microsoft love jumping on the Bandwagon marketing.
When they clearly don't have a clue about the subject matter.
As an Irish man I feel ignored by Microsoft, they skipped St Patrick's Day and didn't release St Patrick's Day Shamrock armor, the pissed Chief emoji and potato gun.
@Trmn8r Yeah the kind of things that people care about these days is just ridiculous.
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