Mickey Mouse Game Changes Name After Antisemitic Accusations

If you haven’t heard, the version of Mickey Mouse is officially in the public domain, and Nightmare Forge Games wasted no time announcing a horror game starring that version of Disney’s mascot called . However, upon announcement, the team was met with and premise, with folks specifically accusing it of being an antisemitic dog whistle.

For those that don’t know, as H is the eighth letter in the alphabet. The game focuses on killing a monster version of Mickey and dealing with a rat infestation by using gas, and the Nazi movement has used rats . All of this threw up too many red flags, and was immediately met with suspicion that what looked like a horror game capitalizing on Mickey’s public domain status was actually hiding something much more insidious.

In response to the criticism, Nightmare Forge Games has it’s changing the name to , claiming ignorance of the historical context of its name and imagery. Prior to this announcement, the studio explained to that was initially meant to represent the game’s 1988 setting and create a symmetrical design in the logo.

The studio’s statement claimed “no additional connotations are intended,” but that it was open to changing the name rather than just tweaking the logo, and it looks like that’s the direction it decided to go. It’s a very serious matter, and it’s up to each person individually to decide whether they’re satisfied with these statements, but the entire project and controversy also draw attention to a common thread among games using classic characters who enter the public domain: the opportunistic use of those characters as a way to attract attention for a shallow, schlocky premise.

Mickey hit the public domain this year and the year before, and it seems all anyone’s willing to put money into when these things happen is some jarring, culture shock version of these typically wholesome characters in horror stories. If that’s as far as our imagination goes with these kinds of projects, what’s the good in giving these characters to the public in the first place?.