Summary
- Amir Satvat has been the target of hateful messages since being named The Game Awards first Game Changer.
- Satvat revealed he has been called a fraud due to his employment at Tencent.
- He has issued a statement explaining his community work isn’t connected to his job at Tencent.
One of the best moments from last week’s Game Awards was a segment dedicated to the show’s first-ever Game Changer. Amir Satvat was named the TGAs first Game Changer for the work he has done over the past two years helping laid-off people in the industry find new jobs. A truly selfless endeavor that has made the industry better during what has been a very rough time for a lot of people within it, yet some people have somehow managed to sully the heartwarming moment in the days since.
Spotted by Eurogamer, Satvat shared a post on LinkedIn revealing that he, his wife, and others in his family have been the targets of hurtful and disturbing messages since he was named a Game Changer at last week’s Game Awards. The comments stem from Satvat being an employee at Tencent and that not being mentioned during his segment at the TGAs.
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Satvat has been labeled a fraud by some due to his Tencent employment not being mentioned during his introduction or his acceptance speech, but he has explained why it wasn’t relevant in his response.
I started this community while working at Amazon BEFORE I ever joined Tencent. I started the community November 2022. I didn’t start at Tencent until August 2023… They simply didn’t mention Tencent at TGA because it had nothing to do with this community and they wanted to focus on how we drove this ourselves.
Amir Satvat Has Been The Target Of Hateful Messages Since The Game Awards
All Due To A Fundamental Misunderstanding Of What It Is He Does
Satvat also notes that his role at Tencent doesn’t involve mergers or acquisitions but clearly, that detail isn’t important to some people. The messages Satvat and his loved ones have received since Thursday range from him being labeled a fraud to antisemitic comments aimed at his wife. Worse things have been said apparently, but they’re so disturbing that Satvat didn’t feel comfortable sharing them as part of the post.
Some have tried to downplay Satvat’s work by labeling what he’s done a “glorified spreadsheet”. Even if that was all he had done, when in reality it’s a heck of a lot more, it would still be infinitely more than those making the comments have done to help.
As for what Satvat actually does, and why he deservedly received the Game Changer award last week, he started a community that helps out-of-work people in the games industry find new jobs. He has spent thousands of unpaid hours helping almost 3,000 people find new jobs during the past two years, a period that has been unprecedented when it comes to the number of layoffs in the video game industry.
Satvat’s speech was one of the highlights of this year’s Game Awards, and I hope he knows, despite how it might seem and feel, that those targeting him with hate right now are a vocal minority. His work is important, it matters, and it has quite literally changed thousands of people’s lives.
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