Deep breaths, everyone. Despite how much some spirited posts on social media might have tried to make it seem a reality, Nintendo in truth is not targeting game developer Zoe Quinn for ridicule in Paper Mario: Color Splash. What was that? Are you wondering if someone is pulling your leg? No, sadly, as coming out of E3 2016, some mistook a joke seen in-game in Color Splash as an attempt by Nintendo to take a dig at the woman who was at the heart of the much-heated “Gamergate” debate. Zoe herself was suckered into the drama, Tweeting her disdain at seemingly being jabbed at by the Japanese developer.
Nintendo has come out in defense of the line of dialogue, noting that it was in reference to the Watergate scandal of the 1970s and had nothing to do with Quinn. Yes, believe it or not, but some folks on the Internet not only believed that Nintendo would intentionally stick its foot into the hornet’s nest that is Gamegate, but were also completely unaware of one of the biggest political scandals in modern American history. It’s especially disturbing, beyond stemming from ignorance of the games and historical information that the joke draws from, that people online went out of their way to splice the jokes together to further propagate this non-conspiracy. Don’t believe everything you read, folks!
Source: Kotaku