File this one under this is why we can’t have nice things: Horse-themed MMO Star Stable has been a bit of a mess thanks to its well-intentioned efforts to support Pride. The chaos began on Wednesday when the Star Stable team announced the Rainbow Festival event for its playerbase and expressly sent “extra warm wishes to [its] LGBTQIA+ players, colleagues, and community.” The Swedish company further added rainbow buyables to the game’s cash shop.
But as blog The Mane Quest noticed, Star Stable AB then changed the verbiage for the event on the website and game launcher, removing the entire paragraph about LGBTQIA+. The company initially told the blog that it had had to change the description to be in compliance with COPPA laws. “This in no way changes our stance as a company supporting our LGBTQIA+ players, but we apologize for how it has made you or others feel,” a rep for the studio wrote. However, as our readers may be aware, COPPA governs data collection and has nothing to do with content, sensitive or child-oriented or otherwise, so that didn’t make much sense.
In any case, the crisis has apparently been somewhat averted, as now the company has added back the original message into the game’s website, though not for all countries, where it says it is “legally unable” to do so. It’s not clear which countries those are, but it’s definitely viewable here in the US now. Once again, the apology seems to have been communicated privately to Mane Quest rather than to all players on the official website or forums or social media.
“We happily support our LGBTQIA+ players, colleagues, and community and deeply apologize if our original mistake of removing the text in our news for all countries has let anyone feel otherwise. We will continue to work on growing, learning from this, and supporting our community better. We happily welcome any feedback you or others have.”
If you’re curious about the game, it’s currently running a 14-day free-play promo that works even if you’ve played on a trial account before.
