Gamerzines
Deep Silver and PR agency Lunch PR have been accused by members of the games industry of hosting an "enormously crude" party to celebrate the launch of its upcoming release Catherine.
Catherine's 'Launch Event' took place at a Gentlemen's Club in central London on Wednesday night, with the subsequent uproar over the choice of venue causing a stir on social networking websites.Dan Griliopoulos, who has worked within various roles in the games industry over the past decade, accused the event of being "enormously crude, conflicted and not how we want to be portraying our industry."
"I'm annoyed because we were already all excited about Catherine!" he added.
On Twitter, Telegraph writer Emily Richardson felt that the event was "condoning sexism in the industry".
"For an industry priding itself on forward thinking and progression, culturally we're stuck in the 1950s," she said.
"In the game both genders have far more to them, much deeper roles. For an INDUSTRY EVENT, a stripclub is not appropriate, in my view".
Others agreed, with OXM UK's Matt Lees saying that the event "wasn't cool."
"No-one there was enjoying it, everyone was just chatting at the bar."
However, he added that some people's reactions to the event had been "insane", and that "it really isn't THAT bad."
As the debate spread across social media websites, other industry professionals offered their thoughts on the event, with one asking "would there be prostitutes at a GTA launch event?"
GamerZines was in attendance at the launch event, which both male and female members of the industry attended.
Two girls working at the club had been dressed in 'Catherine' outfits, with which members of the industry were able to talk to and get their photographs taken with.
Elsewhere in the venue, scantily clad dancers offered pole dances and private lap dances.
The event appeared to contradict the events and tone of the game that it was trying to promote.
In the game, lead character Vincent is attempting to come to terms with his failing long-term relationship, and meets Catherine, a girl who he inadvertently falls for.
The game deals with taboo and adult subjects maturely and respectfully, something it has been praised for by critics.
Lunch PR, Deep Silver's PR agency who distributed invitations to the event, denied responsibility, telling GamerZines that the event was a "Deep Silver UK event".
Deep Silver had not responded to our request for comment at the time of publication.
Catherine launches in the UK next Friday, 10th February on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
http://www.gamerzines.com/xbox-360/news/catherine-launch-event-sexism.html
