Earlier today, THQ Nordic posted on Twitter about an upcoming AMA (“Ask Me Anything” Q&A) on 8chan, and it only took them a few hours to realize that was a really bad idea. The Tweet read, “We’re doing an 8chan AMA and we have no idea why. Come join us!” along with a link to (one of) the internet’s most infamous websites not ending in .onion. The Austria-based video game publisher began the hour-long AMA this afternoon, with three representatives from the company present, going by the handles THQN_Philipp (Philipp Brock, PR & Marketing Director), THQN_Reinhard (Reinhard Pollice, Business and Product Development Director), and THQN_Fabian who remains unidentified.
For those unaware of just how bad hosting an AMA on 8chan is, there are scores of reports outlining the goings-on of the imageboard, including reports of child pornography, and a history of sexism and racism, amongst other illegal and vulgar content. In summary, 8chan is quite possibly the worst place to hold an AMA for a company as large as THQ Nordic. Shortly after the AMA, someone at THQ Nordic recognized the grave mistake, and an apology was published by Philipp Brock to the THQ Nordic Twitter page.
The final of three Tweets by Brock reads, “This was not about being edgy, this blew up and I very much regret to have done it in the first place.” Despite the site’s reputation and obvious displays of comments gathered during the AMA, all three THQ Nordic participants seemed to be answering the actual questions, many pertaining to Destroy All Humans! and Timesplitters, after sifting through the unseemly content, to put it mildly. For those that would rather stay away from the 8chan AMA (as you should), Brock touched upon both IPs, “Timesplitters is a Koch Media property and they will sort these things out. Destroy All Humans on the other hand.. we can not yet talk about it,” possibly hinting to a resurgence of the franchise.