The Controversy Behind the Turkish Game Erzurum

A criticism of the Turkish game Erzurum has started a chain of events that led to further controversy. The events started when a popular Turkish streamer Ahmet “Jahrein” Sonuç played and criticized the survival indie game Erzurum on his twitch stream. He was very critical of the game and at the end of the play, the session refunded it.

He is known for his over the top style of presentation, akin to Doctor Disrespect. His fans like him for that and usually, it poses no problems. This time however, the game’s developer fired back at him saying:

The lord of toxics. The hero, growing in the eyes of the public by refunding the game during the stream! The supreme human being who makes fun of Turkish people speaking with English accents! A soldier with a mission to fight against independent Turkish developers! Nobody needs your money. If your followers bought it, they can also refund it, I don’t need it. But don’t forget, Allah does not fall.

Developer of Erzurum, Proximity

After this comment, Jahrein said the following:

The answer I got from the developer of Erzurum completely matched my expectations. Anyone who has done a half assed job and expects praise needs to get a clear criticism if we want to move forward. Not everyone has to like what you develop.

Ahmet “Jahrein” Sonuç

After that, another famous Turkish streamer named Tuna “Pintipanda” Akşen stated his opinion regarding this subject on Twitter:

It saddens me to see different streamers offend and harshly criticize Erzurum, Potentia and Ronin: Two Souls developers. You think what you are doing is criticizing, but your tens of thousands of followers are going to those people with torches in their hands. It’s a shame…

Developers, do not bother. 90% of the streamers are high school graduates. They don’t even have a job. 95% of them are hypocritical enough to “defend women’s rights and celebrate mothers day” while swearing on other peoples moms. Don’t bother, get constructive criticism and keep going.

Tuna “Pintipanda” Akşen

Jahrein also fired back at him, stating his hypocritical stance on Last of Us 2. When Pintipanda himself did the same thing he criticized in his statement.

Is there only one side to blame in this case? Of course not. Jahrein can criticize any product as he wishes. His harsh critical tone, of course, may not be liked by the producer and he may counteract to it. This is completely fine.

However, as someone who has experienced the game, I want to say this: The game is really below average. Of course, support should be given to locally made games, however, it would be wrong to be softer on them. In the long run, doing so will only hinder the development of the Turkish gaming industry.

As for Pintipanda, he is taking an unfair position, considering that he is trying to define criticism. Criticism covers a very wide area due to its nature. In this respect, no matter how harsh it may be, any reaction can fall under the scope of criticism.

The most problematic people in this case, are the fans. In Turkey, fanaticism runs rampant in every corner of the society. Sometimes, this leads to such controversies as this one. At this point, I no longer think streamers can reasonably take responsibility for what these people do. Likewise, it would be wrong for them to censor themselves because of them.

I think the Turkish game development sector will keep facing such controversies from time to time. Unfortunately, as there is no definitive solution to such things, all we can do is state our opinions on the matter.