Indigenous group demands Final Fantasy 14 remove Far Northern Attire DLC

pcgamer.com:

The Saami Council, a non-governmental organization representing the Sámi people of Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia, are calling on Square Enix to remove the Far Northern Attire DLC from Final Fantasy 14. The council's concern «is not about sensitivity or whether the depiction is appropriate,» it said in a statement(opens in new tab), but rather that the items depicted in the DLC are «Sámi cultural property,» and are infringing upon its rights.

«Our cultural property rights are not theoretical,» Saami Council president Áslat Holmberg said in a statement. «They are protected and protectable under intellectual property laws, which are generally harmonised throughout the world. Square Enix, as a media company, is highly aware of intellectual property laws and has no excuse for this blatant violation of Sámi cultural property.”

The council said the Sámi clothing isn't just an aesthetic, but carries „specific elements of Sámi identity with meaning, content, and context.“ Including it in the game without permission or acknowledgement enables millions of FF14 players „to dress up as a Sámi people, clothe themselves in the Sámi identity without our consent, and contribute to the erosion of our culture.“

This isn't the first time the Saami Council has been vocal about protecting the cultural heritage and rights of its people. Holmberg said the council's position „has been made very clear in the past,“ and noted its 2019 agreement(opens in new tab) with Walt Disney Animation Studios, reached after Disney faced allegations of cultural appropriation(opens in new tab) after its use of a Sámi choral chant in the first Frozen film, in which Disney:

Square Enix, by contrast, „did not even lightly consider the rights of the Sámi