10 DUMBEST Video Game Controversies That Went Too Far

As evidenced by the recent, troubling stories coming out of companies like Activision and Ubisoft, the gaming industry has some very real, very big problems that must be taken seriously, and more importantly, must be fixed.

But not every single issue is worthy of the controversy it generates, and sometimes, gamers get all up-in-arms about things that ultimately don't matter, blowing these so called "problems" way out of proportion to the point that it gets silly. The internet has a way of making non-issues seem massive, and though the gaming scene isn't alone in this, it does happen startlingly often over here.

People getting angry over a missing puddle, reused animation, or minor bit of nudity? Check. PETA accusing Mario of endorsing animal cruelty? Also check. Developers receiving death threats for no good reason? Sadly... give that one a big fat check too.

Whether people are trolling, being overly sensitive, or whether they simply have too much time on their hands, getting upset and offended over such trivial stuff is frankly quite dumb, but that's exactly what happened in the following ten cases.

Serving as a proper sequel to 1994's Sonic 3, Sonic The Hedgehog 4 was officially unveiled in February 2010, and returned the series to its 2D roots - something fans had been clamouring for after several less-than-impressive 3D instalments.

But almost right away, the game was embroiled in a strange controversy. While those fans were indeed chuffed about Sonic 4's two-dimensional design, a subset of them were absolutely furious that Sonic himself didn't look "old school" enough.

While obviously not a big deal in the grand scheme of things - it's not like this new Sonic looked like a crime against nature, as he did in the first iteration of the 2020 movie - this minor backlash soon spiralled into a much bigger movement, with upset fans starting a petition urging Sega to include "classic Sonic" in Sonic 4.

These same fans then began a rather questionable boycott: they wouldn't buy Sonic 4 if their demands weren't met, and instead... they'd go and buy Sonic 1. So, in other words, Sega got paid either way. Great protesting guys - that'll show 'em!

Needless to say, this whole thing was just stupid, and in the end, Sonic 4 ended up being a pretty good game, which is the only thing that matters.