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.
Will you be checking out this Halo Infinite event? Let us know down below.
Comments 17
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...
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....
@Zochmenos You're an example of what's wrong with the world these days.
@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.
Honestly I'm very much to the point of, I'm offended that you were offended by something.
Just getting be too much anymore.
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.
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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