Middle-earth: Shadow of War publisher Warner Bros. Games has cleared up the confusion surrounding its charity ‘Forthog Orc-Slayer’ DLC.
At the start of September, the company revealed Shadow of War’s executive producer, Mike ‘Forthog’ Forgey, would be immortalized in-game after he sadly passed away during production.
Initially, the plan was to let players download Forgey’s ‘Forthog Orc-Slayer’ character, who would step in to save them from deadly encounters, for $4.99, with $3.50 of every sale inside the U.S. being donated to the Forgey family.
After the news gained traction, some people took issue with the fact that cash raised outside the U.S. would seemingly be pocketed by Warner Bros.
A lack of clarity, and some poorly worded responses from the publisher only made the situation worse, and on the surface it appeared that WB might stand to profit from content pitched as charity DLC.
Now, the firm has assured fans that was never the case. It claims it always intended to donate as much money as possible to the Forgey family, but that laws outside of the U.S. made it difficult to communicate that without running into legal trouble.
The publisher admits it could’ve been more transparent, and has looked to make amends by explaining the situation in full and rethinking its approach.
“We decided to sell the DLC worldwide and donate all profits from the DLC to the family. Although we decided to donate all profits to the family, we only planned to actively promote this donation in the States,” reads a statement.
“We hoped this approach would raise as much money as possible for the Forgey family in compliance with the law. Our decision not to promote the donation outside the U.S. (even though we intended to donate the money) caused many to question where funds from other territories were going.
“Answering that direct question itself could have triggered compliance obligations or put us in violation of cause marketing laws in some of the 241 territories in which the content was available. For absolute clarity; our intention was always to give all profits from the DLC, worldwide to the Forgey family.”
The company says it now recognizes that tying donations to DLC sales wasn’t the best way to create a lasting memorial for Forgey and offer support to his family.
As such, Warner Bros. wants to ensure those two aims are met by making a direct donation to the family, and making the Forthog Orc-Slayer DLC free to all players.
Anyone who’s already purchased the add-on will receive a full refund, while those who want to help the Forgey family in their own way can donate via their YouCaring page.