Well that’s a headline I never thought I’ll write. Several posts and comments on the GOG subreddit have noticed a promotional e-mail that contains some… interesting symbols, which I can confirm with my own e-mail. As can be seen from the screenshot below, an e-mail containing a discount code for the game The End of the Sun (nothing out of the ordinary so far) contains 4 symbols that resemble Nazi iconography.
Comments have gone off the rails.
Locking this down
I also recognize that placing two such runes next to each other could create an unfortunate association with symbols used by the Nazi regime. This was noticed before distribution, and out of respect for local sensitivities, the material was not sent to the German community.
Zero explanation for why there were two of them, and the thing about Germany makes them look worse.
It’s also not even correct. I am in Germany, with a German (but English-language) GOG account and I received the email with those symbols. Someone should get fired over this.
Yo wtf that’s mens rea / admission of guilt
They just admitted they knew it was bad and were like “but it’s legal in the US so it’s fine to send it there” but ignore it’s about as bad as it gets for legal symbols.
But it’s not the same symbol despite being two of them.
Let’s not nazis hijack the letter S and fucking sun now shall we? This is so tiring.
As much as I would like to not let Nazis hijack certain things, the simple fact is they did, they have, and they continue to. If Nazi-ism were gone and a distant memory, which perhaps even a decade ago I might’ve believed we were nearly at, then we can start working on reclaiming what they have polluted and bringing back its true, full history.
But that has all changed, the masks are coming off and we are starting to see how far these white supremacists have metastasized and how much power they are beginning to take control of with their fascism. Now is not the time to begin trying to reclaim these symbols, precisely when they are actively using them as dogwhistles and trial balloons, actively spreading their vile ideology and starting to signal to and coordinate with each other to make their ever-so-predictable moves against humanity once again.
And they decided to remove them specifically for Germany because…?
First of all I love GOG, I love their mission, and I have stood by them since the beginning.
That being said, why the living fuck did they put 2 of the last symbol? What did that represent!?
to me it’s pretty clear that it was intentional. like ffs, they explicitly chose to send the email with that title everywhere except germany because it’s illegal to have nazi symbolism there. so obviously they knew! they realized what this came across as!
idk if it’s an edgy representative, and now they’re defending that rep or something (or maybe the rep is the one writing the shitty non-apologies)… but yea, i’m downloading all my offline installers and if they don’t have a real apology and commitment to not fucking do this again then my account is gone.
fuck gog. the ai shit was bad enough, this is fucking unacceptable. i’d rather put up with steam’s drm than give money to neonazis.
Did you also stand by them when they started using AI images in the store? Or when they started that patrons thing where they just ask you to donate to a for-profit store?
GOG has been kind of weird lately, and I can’t say I like what I’ve been seeing.
The second yes, the first no. I can see a patreon type thing for game preservation being a good thing so long as they maintain a paper trail. You’re not wrong though.
Aw maaan. I saw some of these and managed to overlook them separately, but taken together it’s not looking great. That sucks, I liked GOG.
The two together at the end is the ss lightning bolt. Hitlers gestapo.
Yeah, I get that. But my point is, if they say it’s not supposed to have been that, when that’s what everyone else sees, what were they trying to represent? Like, ok, Nordic runes are touchy because of the nazis, but there are plenty of reasons to use them. But using that rune twice? Why? Why only that rune? How can you say you didn’t mean that? What else could you have been trying to represent?
A nitpick but the Gestapo were just a part of the SS.
The two main constituent groups were the Allgemeine SS (General SS) and Waffen-SS (Armed SS). The Allgemeine SS was responsible for enforcing the racial policy of Nazi Germany and general policing, whereas the Waffen-SS consisted of the combat units of the SS, with a sworn allegiance to Hitler. A third component of the SS, the SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV; “Death’s Head Units”[2]), ran the concentration camps and extermination camps. Additional subdivisions of the SS included the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) organisations. They were tasked with detecting actual or potential enemies of Nazi Germany, neutralizing the opposition, policing the German people for their commitment to Nazi ideology and providing domestic and foreign intelligence.
The twin suns of tatooine?
Wow… I really don’t buy those excuses…
They literally admit to seeing the problem before distribution, but instead of just deleting them from the email, they decide to just not include the place where it would get them into the most legal trouble instead?
Uh… No… That’s not an accident anymore. There’s no oopsie there.
Then they go and double down on reddit by giving the excuse that the symbol has been around way longer than it’s modern historical use, so we shouldn’t stop using it because someone corrupted it?
No, that’s not how it works.
Things get ruined and they take on new meanings, that includes words and symbols. You don’t just get to decide that you’re going to take back the symbol of some of the worst evil mankind has known just because it had another meaning before that and then expect everyone to be like, “Oh, alright…” It has a new meaning now. One that everyone recognizes… A meaning that it is blatantly apparent they were aware of beforehand and decided to use anyway.
Anyone buying that bullshit excuse is an idiot.
Fuck GoG.
Was willing to buy the “oopsie daisy! The symbols displayed incorrectly” defence, but admitting that they KNEW the issue existed, put two of them side by side, and then doubled down by basically saying “one bad egg shouldn’t spoil a perfectly good rune”, then not sending the offending email to German customers is baffling!
Time to demand a few refunds I think. Can’t support any justification for promoting fascism.
The “not sending to German customers” is the cincher to me.
So they knew it was there and decided not to send it to the market where it would be possibly illegal. This is pretty brazen and I cannot imagine what they are thinking would come from this that would make the reputational impact worthwhile.
Surprising amount of people here seem to believe the PR bullshit non-apology. You probably think Musk just did a Roman salute too. Pathetic.
Good to know most people have a brain and are capable of critical thinking to easily see through the bullshit.
After nearly two decades working in IT companies, I can see how someone could discover this issue and notify someone else, but it was never properly escalated and addressed due to ineffective internal organization. I don’t mean to defend them, but I don’t see any reasonable explanation for why they would have done this intentionally.
They didn’t use the The Schutzstaffel Nazi symbol in the German mailers because they thought it would violate hate speech laws.
There was no reason to use 2 of those runes together.
They didn’t use the The Schutzstaffel Nazi symbol in the German mailers because they thought it would violate hate speech laws.
That doesn’t contradict what I wrote, though. I can see how some manager who didn’t care enough or didn’t understand the implications would accept this half‑assed measure somebody suggested on slack.
I mean, they should be criticized and shamed for what’s happened, but I see no evidence of malicious intent.
Sadly, that’s the point of dog whistling, to have some doubt to whether it was actually innocent.
With how prevalent dog whistles are in neo-Nazism, it’s not surprising that people are sceptical. It’s a whole thing to send “subtle” Nazi symbology and then deny everything when called out.
It looks pretty intentional from where I’m standing. At best the shot caller was apathetic to it looking like actual Nazi iconography to some recipients.
After four decades of life on this planet, I can think of a million reasons why this was done intentionally. Maybe you just arent that smart?
“You don’t understand, they call us Nazi so we have to do this to prove them wrong!! Why are you doing this to us!!!”
One day I wish we as a collective humanity can reclaim these symbols. Growing up in a Chinese household. I’ve know the manji as symbol associated with the Buddha, not as a symbol of hate and oppression.
Neither the “Doppelrune” (Doublerune) nor the “Siegrune/Sig-Rune” (Victory rune) are historic runes and were created 1929 by Walther Heck. The “Siegrune” itself wasn’t even inspired by the germanic “sowilo” rune (ᛋ), Walther Heck himself stated, that he created it, as he disliked the soft form of the “S” in the latin alphabet and wanted to provide an alternative to the “Fraktur” style that was commonly used in germany at that time.
This ᛋ is “sowilo/sigel/sol”, the germanic rune for sun
This ϟ is the “Siegrune”, created 1929 by Walther Heck as an alternative to the letter “S” and was used by the Nazis
This ϟϟ is the “Doppelrune”, also a creation by Walther Heck and used as a symbol for the SS
Gotcha. Nothing historical about that specific symbol. Never meant as a symbol of fortunate or goodness. Just some Heck dude who thought an angular S was cool
This needs to be properly adressed and whoever did this and whoever greenlighted it should the full feel consequences.
All that being said I can not see this being a company wide intention. Just from a business point of view this is so stupid that it beggars believe. Even if the entire company are neo nazis they would know that openly espousing those ideas would result in losing customers and losing partners.
The big game publishers would not want to be associated with Nazis at least publicly so they might pull games from GoG to stop the reputational damage. Anyone that has at least a functioning brain would stop buying from them until there is a full explenation and proper resolution.
And considering GoG barely keeps their head above water, they can not afford this at all. Unless the new owner wants to tank the company and sell off the assets.
I got that email. Symbols verbatim
𖥞 ꥟ ϟϟ
Let’s look those up.
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BAMUM LETTER PHASE-D MVOP
not a germanic rune
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REJANG SECTION MARK
not a germanic rune
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GREEK SMALL LETTER KOPPA
not a germanic rune
0/3 germanic/nazi runes. They resemble if you willfully go there.
verdict: reaction bait for reddit-grade pearl clutchers
This has to be satire. You’re doing satire, right?
No, its bait.
A straight line isn’t a Nazi symbol either, but if you put 8 of them together in to a pinwheel shape, well now we have a problem.
Context matters.
Then why bother removing them for Germany
just look at these two innocent numbers
- 14 a factor of 7 and 2
- 88 a factor of 11 and 23
Still think there is any malicious intent here??
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“Slavic Adventure”
Maybe support for Ukraine lol. Zelensky just honored Andrey Melnik, a twentieth-century Ukrainian fascist leader and Nazi collaborator who fought with the Nazi’s against the Red Army (NYTimes)
EDIT: I do believe this could be connected. Here is recent article by a Ukrainian Scholar without pro-Russian slant that looks at the proliferation of Nazi symbolism in Ukraine’s military, in official channels, insignia, names and merchandise.
The use of Nazi symbols in Ukraine’s military is not merely an aesthetic problem. It is moral, political, historical, and legal.
First, it represents a form of historical revisionism and the gradual rehabilitation of Nazism itself — a direct challenge to the postwar Western consensus built on the memory of World War II. Within far-right military culture, Nazi imagery is often wrapped in romanticized narratives about anti-Soviet struggle. In practice this trivializes the sacrifice of the seven million Ukrainians who fought Nazism in the ranks of the Red Army alongside the Western allies (in contrast to the 300,000 who served in various military formations and police units on the side of Nazi Germany).
This might actually explain how ignorant people might come to think this is acceptable or just a bit edgy. Partly because speaking about this gets you branded a traitor.This might actually explain how ignorant people might come to think this is acceptable or just a bit edgy. Because there is no pushback or scandal and it just gets swept under the rug it must be ok right? Unconditional support for Ukraine - but at what cost?
Oh look an ml account repeating the Ukraine nazi Russian propaganda talking point. How surprising.
Til the new York times is now Russian propaganda…
Given that they were nazi propaganda in 1938 and creating the October 7 mass rape narrative… it’s not that much of a stretch.
Utterly aside from the general content of this thread.
I know nothing of the pieces printed or their leanings, nor is it relevant for the purposes of this response.
That argument is the weakest of sauces, drizzled over a disappointing bad-faith steak.
A single article doesn’t define a whole paper (nor was that claimed).
A papers’ reputation doesn’t give them a free pass for printing something outside of their normal editorial quality control.
Argue the actual claims, this bad faith deflection bullshit is fooling no-one.
Oh look an ml account repeating the Ukraine nazi Russian propaganda talking point. How surprising.
When this is the claim being replied to, forgive me and anyone else from not giving it any graces. Especially when it is starting with as you say
That argument is the weakest of sauces, drizzled over a disappointing bad-faith steak.
Especially when a user is literally calling what the leader of Ukraine did last week Russian propaganda.
They came in hot, you go at it, zero problems with that from me.
All I meant is that you should go at it with actual arguments.
Even if they are objectively incorrect, responding with deflection and fallacy makes your position look weak, like you don’t have an actual point.
My point is there isn’t an argument to be made. We’re in a games thread about how gog is out downplaying nazi symbols just as a Ukrainian nazi collaborator got state honors and that is called Russian propaganda.
How are we in a place where nazis aren’t ostracized
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So nobody here wants to actually read the article where it was very clearly explained that this was a rendering error of a different symbol on some devices?
Y’all just really, really wanna be mad, huh?
We all did, we also read the other messages and saw through the flimsy excuse provided.
Please do tell us why putting two Greek Koppa together was necessary, and how it relates to Polish cultural history. Why they realised that it appeared Nazi related, and instead of simply not doing it decided to only not do it in Germany.
Y’ou just really, really wanna downplay this, huh?
Lol, no, I’m just here to laugh at everyone malding about what is very clearly an innocent mistake.
Seriously, this is Tankie Triad levels of conspiracism, y’all.
Funny hill to die on
As long as the nazi’s dead
Funny hill to make a mountain out of
If it’s just a mistake, then why did they only remove the symbol in the email sent to German customers, where it could get them into legal trouble?
The Schutzstaffel is purely a Nazi symbol.
There was no reason to use 2 of those runes together, especially when not using it in German mailers because they thought it would violate hate speech laws.
Either you are trying to gaslight people into thinking that ᛋᛋ is not a symbol of hate and genocide, or you are extremely ignorant.
Did you read the article? It’s not Schutzstaffel.
Tell me then, why would they use 2 side by side. And why not show those symbols to Germans?
This seems like just poor planning rather than signaling. Let be real here. What is GOG or the devs to gain from this, it’s silly.
No, I’m just capable of reading an article and understanding an explanation, unlike you and most other people in the thread, apparently.
Tell me then, why would they not show those symbols to Germans?
They didn’t even use the rune though. They didn’t use the sowilo rune ᛋ but the koppa symbol ϟ because it looks more like the sig rune. If they actually meant to use the sowilo rune they would have and also why make a doppelrune? This is nazi shit.
Good Old Germany
