Simon Chylinski is a former sound designer that worked with Unknown Worlds on the recently released Subnautica. Chylinski was fired this week after many people on social media discovered his rather vile statements and behavior on his Twitter account. Remarks that very clearly show Chylinski holds a variety of racist and transphobic tendencies.
I noticed these past few days a number of people voicing their disdain on Twitter for tweets offered up by Chylinski in the past. Some of the examples can be seen below.
Examples of Chylinski total lack of empathy includes tweets about immigration (seen above) bringing "3rd world tier crime rates and IQ" to areas. The tweet about attack helicopters (seen above) is from a popular meme that tries to make light of transgender issues. Chylinski also mocks pay inequalities between the sexes. He praises colonialism and references "SJW logic." This sparked enough outrage that Unknown Worlds had no choice but to fire Chylinski.
According to Chylinski's Twitter, he was fired today. He was allegedly working on an expansion to Subnautica as of February 2. Charlie Cleveland, the game director on Subnautica, confirmed that Chylinski is no longer with the studio. This is the statement that Cleveland provided to Kotaku on today's firing.
In an ironic twist, Cleveland also came under fire this past week for statements that he made on Twitter during the development of the game. In fact, it was Cleveland's tweet that led people to find the remarks from Chylinski in the first place. On February 9, 2016, Cleveland posted a poll asking his Twitter followers if they would "prefer we added the option to play as a woman in @subnautica, or improve the core game?" An archive of the now deleted tweet can be found below along with Chylinski's response.
Chylinski and Cleveland tried to play off the response to the poll as mere "trolling" just three days ago on February 3, 2018.
I noticed these past few days a number of people voicing their disdain on Twitter for tweets offered up by Chylinski in the past. Some of the examples can be seen below.
Examples of Chylinski total lack of empathy includes tweets about immigration (seen above) bringing "3rd world tier crime rates and IQ" to areas. The tweet about attack helicopters (seen above) is from a popular meme that tries to make light of transgender issues. Chylinski also mocks pay inequalities between the sexes. He praises colonialism and references "SJW logic." This sparked enough outrage that Unknown Worlds had no choice but to fire Chylinski.
According to Chylinski's Twitter, he was fired today. He was allegedly working on an expansion to Subnautica as of February 2. Charlie Cleveland, the game director on Subnautica, confirmed that Chylinski is no longer with the studio. This is the statement that Cleveland provided to Kotaku on today's firing.
“Over the weekend we discovered that one of our team members had made many hateful statements online that are against our company values. After discussing the matter with him, we decided to stop working with him immediately.”
In an ironic twist, Cleveland also came under fire this past week for statements that he made on Twitter during the development of the game. In fact, it was Cleveland's tweet that led people to find the remarks from Chylinski in the first place. On February 9, 2016, Cleveland posted a poll asking his Twitter followers if they would "prefer we added the option to play as a woman in @subnautica, or improve the core game?" An archive of the now deleted tweet can be found below along with Chylinski's response.
Chylinski and Cleveland tried to play off the response to the poll as mere "trolling" just three days ago on February 3, 2018.