Despite apologising, Deep Silver has gone ahead and shipped the Dead Island Zombie Bait Edition bust.

Back in January, Deep Silver announced the Zombie Bait Edition of Dead Island: Riptide. The controversial collector’s edition contained a severed female torso in a Union Jack bikini – presumably because Britain is known for its sunny weather and bikini clad gals. I’m under the impression the torso is some sort of wank-aid for boys with zombie fetishes.

In an industry that breeds sexism, having a torso that reduces a woman to nothing more than a pair of tits is not only juvenile, it’s woefully distasteful.

Back in January Deep Silver issued an apology stating they ‘regret’ this choice:

“We deeply apologize for any offense caused by the Dead Island Riptide “Zombie Bait Edition”, the collector’s edition announced for Europe and Australia. Like many gaming companies, Deep Silver has many offices in different countries, which is why sometimes different versions of Collector’s Editions come into being for North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia,” reads a tweet.

We sincerely regret this choice. We are collecting feedback continuously from the Dead Island community, as well as the international gaming community at large, for ongoing internal meetings with Deep Silver’s entire international team today. For now, we want to reiterate to the community, fans and industry how deeply sorry we are, and that we are committed to making sure this will never happen again.”

Then they went and shipped it anyway.

Here’s how the above apology now reads:

“Bitch, shut up. Our pre-orders were though the roof! Don’t like it? Go tell someone who cares!”

When discussing issues like booth babes, there are those who support it and those who oppose it. I may not agree with supporters, but as an industry, it’s important to listen to what they have to say. It’s only when we really listen, that a problem can be truly solved. In the case of the Dead Island Zombie Bait torso, there is no room for discussion. It is literally a bust of a pair of blood-soaked breasts. Why is this sexist? Well, women are people. The torso treats women as though they’re only good for one thing; which in itself, is the crux of sexism in the videogame industry: women are there for show and hold no real importance or value.

Does the UK branch of Deep Silver hate women? Does it see them as something to be used to ship extra copies of collector’s edition?

On April, 4, a press release was sent out to promote Deep Silver’s latest title, Ride to Hell: Retribution. Here’s what the second paragraph contained:

“Ride to Hell: Retribution tells the story of a lone rider, Jake Conway, a man with either a gun in his hand or a girl on his lap (and on more than one occasion both!).”

So, Jake Conway is a womanizer. Having a cocksure male lead isn’t something new. In fact, it’s something very old. You could overlook this and put it down to a bad press release that was written in the 80s, but this came a few months after the Zombie Bait Edition palaver.

Following the fall of THQ, Deep Silver acquired Saints Row. If Zombies equal tits, and Motorbikes equal philanderers, I can only imagine what lies in store for a title as testosterone fuelled as Saints Row.

Do Deep Silver hate women? Hopefully not. Are they happy to exploit women to sell their products? I’ll let you decide that for yourself.