Logan Paul's Suicide Forest Controversy Prompts Video Game Spinouts

The controversy surrounding Logan Paul’s trip to Aokigahara Forest apparently isn’t over yet [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

The controversy surrounding Logan Paul's trip to Aokigahara Forest apparently isn't over yet as video game spinouts make their way onto various platforms.

Paul's trip to the location in Japan that's also known as the Suicide Forest received immediate backlash when the YouTuber uploaded a video that drew criticism for multiple instances of insensitivity. The most notable offense was using an image of a suicide victim as the video's thumbnail, a victim that Paul and his crew stumbled upon while in the forest and was also filmed for the video.

But while Paul dealt with the backlash that resulted from the video and YouTube was pressured about what the site planned to do with Paul considering how influential a YouTuber he is, game developers were apparently hard at work on their own project that involved turning Paul's trip to Japan into playable games.

"The Suicide Forest" on Xbox One ...

One of the latest instances of a game being created out of Paul's exploits in Japan is a game that's called "The Suicide Forest," an Xbox One game that tasks players with earning tons of channel views to become successful.

Found in the Creators Collection section of the Xbox Marketplace as detailed in the tweet above, the game only has a rating of PEGI 3. It puts players in the shoes of an unnamed vlogger who is "going to explore the Aokigahara forest searching for bodies in order to get millions of views for your channel." With "dangers" to overcome, players have to search for bodies in the forest to help boost the vlogger's channel's popularity.

The premise of this game is obviously pretty messed up, though it's not clear if the game's creator intended to create it as a parody looking down on Paul's controversy or a way to capitalize off of the drama. Either way, it appears that this game is not just limited to the Xbox One platform.

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... Also Available on Android Devices and PC

Even if you don't have an Xbox One, the developers of this game, Sad Smile, were thoughtful enough to make The Suicide Forest available on both the PC platform as well as Android devices.

The listing for The Suicide Forest, the exact same game that was seen on the Xbox One, is still up on the Google Play site at the time of this writing. It also includes a trailer for the game to show what the exploration and view-grabbing will look like once you download the free game.

"Playing as vlogger, you are going to explore the Aokigahara forest searching for bodies in order to get millions of views for your channel," a description reads. "The forest is full of dangers, so you gotta be careful, otherwise, you may become one of the bodies you came to film."

But judging from what's happened to other Logan Paul spinout games on the Google Play store, this game may not remain on the market much longer.

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Other Games Have Been Removed

The Suicide Forest game that's now being spotted on the Xbox One's store as well as Android and PC platforms isn't actually the only game created after Paul's trip to Japan. Another game that was more deliberate in calling out the YouTuber with the name Logan Paul: Suicide Forest Run was pulled from the Google Play store after it was added to the store by a developer who told The Daily Dot that the popularity of the game surprised him.

"The main idea of my game was to show in a sarcastic way the reason Logan Paul went to the suicide forest," the creator of the game told The Daily Dot with a request that his real name not be used. "The real reason [was] to get views, [and this] was intended to be sort of a meme game. Never thought it would get this much success. I heard it got 9 in U.S. Google Play rank, but I'm not sure. I didn't set up ranking tools and app analytics, because never thought it would get this popular."

Before the game was taken down, several players had already downloaded it and created their own videos that showed gameplay and took players through what the game had to offer.

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Logan Paul Now

Video game spinouts aside, Logan Paul doesn't have appear to have anything to do with the games himself. In fact, he appears to be distancing himself from the controversy by doing a complete 180 and instead discussing topics such as suicide prevention and suicide culture.

The video above marked Paul's return to YouTube after taking a break from the platform in wake of the controversy. Paul uploaded the video around a week ago that was titled "Suicide: Be Here Tomorrow." and was a sharp contrast from his typical work. His change of content and his asking fans not to defend him for his controversial actions are a better direction than one created by the controversial forest video, but Paul still hasn't regained the favor of all his fans and other YouTubers like PewDiePie who criticized him for the video.

There's no telling how much longer these games will remain on their various market places, but with players already commenting about reporting them for inappropriate content, they may not survive much longer.

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