Intel apologizes from pulling ads from Gamasutra

When Intel pulled advertising from the business-focused gaming website Gamasutra earlier this week, it was due in large part to an internet campaign to hit gaming websites that speak out against sexism in the industry where it hurts: ad revenue. Today, the chipset manufacturer has announced an apology for this. Sort of. Intel says that it never meant to appear to be taking sides in the increasingly hostile debate.

Intel pulled an advertising campaign from the gaming news site Gamasutra this week after the company received complaints related to an opinion piece the site ran about gamers, according to Gamasutra’s Twitter account. The complaints were part of a pressure campaign organized by supporters of the #GamerGate hashtag who took offense to a number of articles about changes in gaming culture. The Gamasutra article in question was “‘Gamers’ don’t have to be your audience. ‘Gamers’ are over” by Leigh Alexander. In it, she described some of the tensions that have arisen in gaming culture as the audience has shifted from being composed mostly of the early adopters that commercial studios targeted (“young white dudes with disposable income,” as Alexander put it) to today’s much broader mix of players.