Conan Exiles-instruktør forklarer hvorfor man kan eje slaver i spillet

Selvom Conan Exiles har været tilgængeligt via Early Access og Xbox Preview Program i meget lang tid, så har den nylige formelle udgivelse medført en lidt kontroversiel sag, hvor spillet og udvikleren FunCom er kommet i modvind. Dette sker på baggrund af en særlig mekanik i spillet, der tillader spilleren at eje slaver. Mekanikken er blevet kritiseret af forbrugere på fora, og har også noget andre medier.

Den officielle Steam-beskrivelse af mekanikken lyder således:

"Enslave the criminals of the Exiled Lands and make them join your cause and defend your territory. Put them through the grueling Wheel of Pain to break their will, then turn them into archers, fighters, crafters, entertainers, and more."

I et interview med Polygon forklarer instruktør Joel Bylos, at selvom netop dette element af spillet er "troubling", men at de ikke har introduceret mekanikken for at provokere, men snarere fordi Bylos ikke selv har tænkt på konnotationerne.

"I understand it's a troubling element but it doesn't come from a place of malice. It comes from a place, I would say, of perhaps a little bit of ignorance on my part, because I don't have that heritage. But, on the other side of that, I would just say it just comes from a place of where, mechanically, we thought it was quite interesting for people."

Desuden tilføjer Bylos, at han tror på at man skal distancere spillet fra den virkelige verden:

"I would say I'm a firm believer in the fact that just because you do something in a video game, you don't do it in real life, and most people are quite aware of that"