EA Shuts Down 'Black Panther' Game And Its Developer Cliffhanger Games After Multiple Woke DEI Controversies
Electronic Arts (EA) announced it was shutting down Cliffhanger Games and its Black Panther game that was in development. The news of the studio and game being shut down comes in the wake of multiple woke DEI controversies over the past year.
IGN’s Rebekah Valentine reports that an email sent to Cliffhanger Games staff by EA Entertainment President Laura Miele indicated the studio was being shut down and the game was being canceled in order for EA to “sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.”
While the game is being scrapped and the studio being shut down, EA’s deal with Marvel, which was originally for three games will continue, but will be helmed by Motive, which is developing an Iron Man game. Miele said, “Our partnership with Marvel remains strong and our multi-title, long-term collaboration continues.”
Not only is the company shutting down Cliffhanger and scrapping the Black Panther game, but it is also laying off employees at other studios as well. "These decisions are hard," Miele stated. "They affect people we’ve worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We’re doing everything we can to support them — including finding opportunities within EA, where we’ve had success helping people land in new roles."
As for what those growth opportunities are at EA Entertainment, Miele implied it would be Battlefield, Skate, The Sims, and Apex Legends as well as its Iron Man game at Motive, a third Star Wars Jedi game at Respawn, and BioWare’s upcoming Mass Effect game.
The Black Panther game was plagued with woke DEI controversies from the beginning. Former Head of Cliffhanger Kevin Stephens told Marvel.com that diversity was embedded into the company and developer, “It’s an incredibly rare opportunity to build a new team around the values of diversity, collaboration, and empowerment.”
“We want our game to enable players to feel what it’s like to be worthy of the Black Panther mantle in unique, story-driven ways, and we want Cliffhanger Games to empower everyone on our team as we collaborate to bring this amazing world to life,” he added.
He also shared, “We’re dedicated to delivering fans a definitive and authentic Black Panther experience, giving them more agency and control over their narrative than they have ever experienced in a story-driven video game. Wakanda is a rich Super Hero sandbox, and our mission is to develop an epic world for players who love Black Panther and want to explore the world of Wakanda as much as we do.”
In March 2024 it was then discovered that Dani Lalonders, a former Sweet Baby Inc. employee, was employed by Cliffhanger Games after admitting to discriminating against white people during a presentation for the Game Devs of Color Expo 2021.
In the presentation discussing her indie game ValiDate, Lalonders said, “ValiDate has a team of all people of color. We have no white people on our team. I did that because I wanted to create a safe environment. And I know the best way for the environment to be safe is to be around people who are just like me.”
“And I’m not saying that white people in the industry are creating unsafe environments. I’m not saying that. That is not what I’m saying,” she said. “I’m saying sometimes it is hard to work with white people because they think that something may be okay, but it was really a microaggression, and no one wants to deal with that while you’re trying to make a game that they love.”
Not only did Lalonders admit to discrimination, but she also said she was a racist while attempting to defend her former employer Sweet Baby Inc.
On March 7th, she wrote, “i just stopped taking yall seriously when yall start running around saying white people can experience racism because i did not suffer through 2020 for yall to act like you werent an ally to blm 4 years later.”
“posting that tired a** screenshot of the google definition of racism. i just dont care anymore,” Lalonders concluded.
She then admitted to being a racist in a response to Rileyman1080, who wrote, “Hahaha so being appropriately called racist is tiresome, huh? You could try not being racist.”
Lalonders responded, “Yeah im racist so what now?
Lalonders later stated that if you believe you can be racist towards white people that makes you racist.
She wrote, “if you think you can be racist to white people, you literally are.”
Fast forward to October 2024 and Alexa Ray Corriea, a Senior Writer for the game, shared her desire to have a t-shirt that states most gamers are bigots.
Former Kotaku Senior Editor Alyssa Mercante posted to X, “I don’t support all gamers most of you are bigots.”
Corriea responded, “need this on a shirt.”
Given this game had so many woke DEI controversies before a trailer was even released, one has to wonder if the failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard spurred the closing of the studio and the axing of the game.
What do you make of this game and studio getting shut down?
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I honestly didn’t see this one coming. EA’s history of shutting down studios delivers a win for the first time. Bioware next, please.
Insert picture of Nelson saying “Ha ha!” here.