AS the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain on Jan 1, media creators began dropping news of how they were intending to capitalise on that particular iteration of Disney’s mascot.
For film, there is a Mickey Mouse slasher horror film on the way called Mickey’s Mouse Trap, with a yet-to-be-set release date.
On the gaming front, game developer Nightmare Forge Games announced a new horror survival game featuring the black-and-white design of Mickey Mouse as an in-game monster and the news immediately generated conversation.
Instead of circling around how the game looks like every other generic horror game, online chatter honed in on the game’s subtle subtext.
Revealed as Infestation 88, the title immediately rang alarm bells, as “88” is a common code for “Heil Hitler” — the “8” refers to the eighth alphabet, “H”— used by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
The gameplay was also criticised, as it focuses on players dealing with a rat infestation by using gas. For those that do not know, before and during World War II, rats were commonly used in Nazi propaganda to describe Jewish people and the use of gas harks back to the gas chambers in concentration camps.
Due to the growing pushback, on Jan 3, Nightmare Forge Games posted an update on X (formerly Twitter) that they were changing the game’s name to Infestation: Origins.
“Our game is set in the 1980s, with the year 1988 chosen simply due to its symmetrical design in the game’s artwork and logo. Unfortunately, we were unaware of any additional meanings the number ‘88’ has,” the developer statement claimed.
It is currently unclear whether the gameplay will be changed or overhauled.
