Board Game Publisher Devir Halts Sales of Ace of Spades Following Backlash Over Racist Artwork

In their announcement, Devir states that while not an intentional misstep, they consider it “a serious mistake that we recognize and deeply regret.” The company then explains that the original intent of both artworks was to visually reference scenes from Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Following this, Devir says, “We now fully understand that this approach was misguided. Depicting imagery tied to the violence and trauma of slavery—even as a cultural reference—is not appropriate in a board game context. These illustrations trivialize a painful and deeply rooted historical reality. They should never have been included.” 

The company then goes on to apologize and state next steps, including stopping sales of Ace of Spades, retrieving all copies sent to retailers, designing two new replacement cards that will be available free of charge, and removing the original cards from future editions or reprints of the game. Devir also states it will be reviewing all cards in the game for potentially hurtful or offensive content—something one imagines would be done before release—as well as launching a thorough review of their editorial and design processes, on top of consultations with experts in diversity, history, and cultural representation for future projects. It ends the update with a promise to do better and rebuild trust through action.

As reported by BoardGameWire, one of the first people to call out this racist artwork was Jeremy Howard, a long-time contributor to the board game channel Man vs. Meeple, on his BoardGameGeek post  “Just some Ole Racist “history crap””. To borrow his words for a moment, it’s hard to see this as “just an oversight. Literally a black man in chains DROOLING.” While the publisher’s quick response and apology have been welcomed by some online, how this artwork got approved and sent to retailers in the first place is a valid question. Ultimately, only the future will tell if Devir can successfully adopt the new guidelines it has set for itself and avoid another serious mistake.