What is the latest Poppy Playtime controversy? Exploring all details about the game's issues with the audience

Poppy Playtime is an episodic horror game developed and published by American indie developer Mob Entertainment for Android, iOS, and Microsoft Windows. In this game, players take on the role of a former employee of a toy-making company, Playtime Co., who has returned after 10 years to the abandoned factory amidst the disappearance of all his staff members.

Poppy Playtime has enjoyed its share of glory in the mobile games segment, with 4.5-star ratings and over 500,000 downloads per episode. However, it has also been surrounded by a series of controversies that have taken a massive toll on the game's reputation with the audience.

While many games in the market, regardless of which platform, tend to get caught up with their own controversies, they are mostly centered on the games' performance or something less significant. However, Poppy Playtime hasn't been that lucky, as they've dealt with multiple controversies that have left a stain on the game and created a bad image among the player base.

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A deep dive into the string of controversies that have severely impacted Poppy Playtime

Let's break down all the recent controversies that have led to Mob Entertainment being the talk of the town for the wrong reasons.

1) Huggy Wuggy's design

Huggy Wuggy is one of the game's antagonists and is the result of an explosion at the factory that turned one of the employees into a blue-colored evil monster with sharp teeth. While the character's frightening design has gained popularity among children, parents did not share the same view.

While most parents don't allow their children to play the game, Huggy Wuggy has now crossed over into the realms of TikTok and YouTube, scaring viewers who least expect it. Although the age rating for the game is eight and above, many believe it is not suitable for players below 16.

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2) Plagiarism claim

Ekrcoaster, the developer and publisher of the survival horror game Venge, filed a plagiarism claim against Mob Entertainment. While both Verge and Poppy Playtime ironically share similarities with the popular Five Nights at Freddy's franchise, this is another issue that the developers have had to deal with lately.

Fortunately for them, no legal action has been taken since none have been able to prove that the developers plagiarised content and gameplay from Verge.

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3) NFT controversy

Imitating the moves of major studios in 2021, Mob Entertainment introduced a line of Poppy Playtime NFTs. They were introduced to make future NFT-powered Alternate Reality Games (ARG) under the Playtime umbrella. This led to a severe backlash where the community boycotted the game to show their anger and frustration.

Within six months of this controversy, Mob Entertainment scrapped their NFT project, promised not to make any more NFT tie-ins, and finally donated all the proceeds they made from the NFT sale to the Clean Air Task Force.