Multiple screenshots taken from the official Discord server for the recently released retro 3D shooter Ion Fury posted to the Resetera forums have shown members of the game's development team using derogatory language, and in a multiple cases, degrading remarks about transgender individuals.

Resetera user Twenty5Thousand began by posting a screen grab of the members of the Discord listed as Ion Fury leads and as part of the Ion Fury Dev Team to demonstrate that the messages in question did indeed come from the game's developers. His next screenshot shows developer Mblackwell giving his own definition of "SJWs," and game lead terminx stating that "some of them are fucking nuts." Twenty5Thousand explains that he included this part of the chat because the use of "SJW" as a possibly derogatory term is what caused them to investigate further into the chat history on the game's Discord.

Then terminx is shown saying that anyone deciding if a child is transgender at birth has "mental problems," which, while devoid of the conversation in which the individual message appeared, describes an unlikely scenario of parents determining their child's gender identity for them at birth, and then disparaging the parents in that hypothetical.

After that, another screenshot shows a member of the Discord posting a juxtaposition of an article about the World Health Organization choosing to recognize Gaming Disorder next to an article about the WHO no longer classifying "Gender Identity Disorder" as a mental illness. User Daedolon, another member of the development team, questions the second article, asking, "does it mean that trans people just choose to be trans and there's nothing in their heads? not sure if legit," a clear misrepresentation of gender dysphoria.

Further screenshots posted by Twenty5Thousand show Daedolon seeming to describe transitioning as "mutilating a perfectly healthy body," defending use of the word "r*tarded," and other, similar instances.

This has since triggered a lengthy Twitter back and forth between game development company Voidpoint and Twenty5Thousand as well as others who have reacted to the original Resetera post, beginning with Voidpoint claiming that these screenshots seem worse without additional context. Lead developer Hendricks266 has also stated that, while not on the same level of the day-to-day experiences of marginalized groups, he finds this to be harmful, "mob-type action."

Voidpoint and other members of the development team have yet to address most of these comments individually beyond their blanket statement.

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