While we don't know why the Kallters were removed, it being over an ethnic stereotype didn't ever sit right with me. To my knowledge, the biggest discrimination for the Sami people (who the Kallters were primarily based on) have historically been their removal from the history of their land and subsequent identifying as "the other" by foreign immigrants. This is still an issue to this day, particularly in the Nordic countries (including Sweden, where the game's headquarters are located). Hence, their removal from the game comes across less as a company trying to remove a harmful stereotype, and more as the company seeing their inclusion in the game as unimportant enough to easily remove without backlash.
Thank you for informing me! I had no idea about who they were based on (I was young when they were in the game). That's so sad to hear that this was possibly the reason for their removal, and for the Sami people and what they've experienced, that's awful.
While we don't know why the Kallters were removed, it being over an ethnic stereotype didn't ever sit right with me. To my knowledge, the biggest discrimination for the Sami people (who the Kallters were primarily based on) have historically been their removal from the history of their land and subsequent identifying as "the other" by foreign immigrants. This is still an issue to this day, particularly in the Nordic countries (including Sweden, where the game's headquarters are located). Hence, their removal from the game comes across less as a company trying to remove a harmful stereotype, and more as the company seeing their inclusion in the game as unimportant enough to easily remove without backlash.
Thank you for informing me! I had no idea about who they were based on (I was young when they were in the game). That's so sad to hear that this was possibly the reason for their removal, and for the Sami people and what they've experienced, that's awful.