Joe Biden says video game makers are 'little creeps' who make 'games to teach you how to kill people'

Associated Press/Paul Vernon

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden.

• Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden called video game developers "little creeps" who make games "to teach you how to kill people" in a recent interview with The New York Times.
• Biden's criticisms for video game developers came unprompted when he was asked about Silicon Valley mergers, and if he has any regrets from when he served as President Barack Obama's VP.
• Referring to a roundtable discussion he had with Silicon Valley leaders, Biden said, "one of the little creeps sitting around that table, who was a multi- - close to a billionaire - who told me he was an artist because he was able to come up with games to teach you how to kill people."
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Democratic presidential candidate and former vice president Joe Biden is no fan of video game creators, apparently.

Biden called video game developers "little creeps," and described their games as a means "to teach you how to kill people," in a recently published interview with The New York Times.

Bizarrely, Biden wasn't answering a question about video games.

In the NYT interview, Biden is asked the following: "Under the Obama administration, Silicon Valley's power actually expanded greatly. There are very few mergers blocked. Do you have any regrets about that?"

Though Biden begins by speaking to that question, his answer quickly turned into a screed about "one of the little creeps" he met with during a meeting with Silicon Valley leaders.

"At one point, one of the little creeps sitting around that table, who was a multi- - close to a billionaire," Biden says, "told me he was an artist because he was able to come up with games to teach you how to kill people."

When he's asked if he's referring to video games, he affirms before returning to criticism of the various Silicon Valley leaders in attendance.

EA DICE

EA's "Battlefield 5" is the latest game in the long-running "Battlefield" series, which uses real historical battles and soldiers as the backdrop for a video game.

It's unclear which game publisher or studio to which Biden is referring.

In 2012, when he was serving as vice president under Barack Obama, Biden met with Silicon Valley leaders including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, and at least two prominent video game executives: former EA CEO John Riccitiello, and Zynga chairman Mark Pincus.

Given Zynga's focus on family-friendly Facebook gaming, and EA's far wider variety of games - including the annual "Madden" and "FIFA" games, in addition to the first-person shooter "Battlefield" series - it's likely that Biden is referring to EA and its games. Spokespeople for EA and Zynga were not immediately available to comment.

Representatives for the Biden campaign didn't respond to requests for comment as of publishing.

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