The classic World War strategy simulation game *Hearts of Iron IV* celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2026. However, the game has been bombarded with negative reviews on Steam, and as of September 24, 2026, its “Recent Reviews” section is labeled “Overwhelmingly Negative.”
Protests Spread on Discord Over the Banning of a User Who Set the “Father of the Turkish Republic” as Their Profile Picture
The trigger for this wave of negative reviews was the banning of a user on the official Discord server who had set an image of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the “Father of the Turkish Nation” (see:Wikipedia), as their profile picture.
A moderator on the Discord server argued, “Atatürk was involved in the 1915 Armenian Genocide and is a controversial figure,”“The use of images of controversial figures is not permitted on this server,” and while they noted that images from in-game assets are allowed, they still banned the user in question.
However, this ban was met with a flood of criticism. An X user named rabitto summarized the issue as follows:
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is not a symbol of hatred. As the founder of Turkey, his photograph does not in and of itself express hatred toward Armenians or attack other ethnic groups.
In 1915, Mustafa Kemal was neither a head of the Ottoman government, nor the Minister of the Interior, nor a political leader in control of the central government. If he is alleged to have been involved in the 1915 Armenian Genocide, evidence is required.
Our arguments challenging the user’s ban were deleted or removed, and that Discord server stopped accepting new members.
Were the criteria used to ban the Turkish user the same criteria that would be applied to users of other nationalities in similar situations? Were Turkish national leaders treated as fundamentally lacking legitimacy, unlike their foreign counterparts?
Emrah Safa Gürkan, a Turkish historian and a heavy user who has spent thousands of hours playing Paradox games, has also condemned the bans, stating that they involve “clear hostility and historical distortion.”
As a result, the game’s Steam forums are now flooded with threads discussing this issue, and among the approximately 19,500 recent reviews posted over the past 30 days, the positive rating stands at a mere 9%, plunging the game into a “overwhelmingly negative” backlash. Will this issue ever be resolved?
*Hearts of Iron IV* is currently available for PC (Steam/Microsoft Store).
