King criticised for cancellation of Gaming Ladies event

Candy Crush Saga maker King has been criticised by Vlamber boss Rami Ismail for its decision to withdraw support for for a woman-only games event in Barcelona.

Gaming Ladies had been scheduled to take place on July 27th but its announcement was met with huge hostility from small parts of the patriarchal video games fanbase. VentureBeat reports that threats had been made to disrupt the event.

At King, we’re committed to fostering a culture of diversity and equality and have a number of initiatives in place to support this goal,” King, which had previously been the event sponsor, said.

In this instance, we agreed to host a ‘Gaming Ladies’ event at the King office in Barcelona and the event attracted a lot of interest, mainly positive but some people had negative feedback to the fact it was an all-women event.

We have decided to put this event on hold for the moment for two reasons. Firstly, we want to consider the feedback we’ve received around the event and secondly, for the safety of our staff and people registered to attend.

The decision has been roundly criticised, however, by those who think that caving to the demands of this viscous subsection of the fanbase serves only as encouragement, setting back the work that has been put into promoting gender equality in the games industry.

I don’t care if you agree or disagree with them,” Ismail said at Barcelona games event Gamelab. What is important is that you show your support for events like these, to show people who are passionate about games, that our industry is welcoming and safe.

Game development is affected by this. This is damaging. This news goes around the world. How professional is this industry if people can’t go to a meetup safely? That’s not the fault of the organizers. That’s the fault of the harassers.”