Video game ends ‘collaboration’ with Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor featured in the Hitman video game.
A popular video game developer has decided to pull content featuring Irish MMA fighter Conor McGregor from sale, after a woman who said he raped her won a civil claim for damages against him.
Nikita Hand, who accused the sportsman of raping her in a Dublin hotel in December 2018, won her claim against him for damages in a civil case at the High Court in the Irish capital.
The jury delivered its verdict on Friday.
The total amount of damages awarded to Hand by the jury was 248,603.60 euros (£206,714.31).
Mr McGregor made no comment as he left court but later posted on social media that he intends to appeal.
The Irish athlete has featured in multiple video games, including voice-acting a character bearing his likeness in additional downloadable content in the Hitman series.
Mr McGregor’s character featured as a target for the player-controlled assassin in the game.
IO Interactive, the Danish developer and publisher of Hitman, said in a statement: “In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor, IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately.
“We take this matter very seriously and cannot ignore its implications.
“Consequently, we will begin removing all content featuring Mr McGregor from our storefronts starting today.”
Mr McGregor had faced an accusation that he “brutally raped and battered” Ms Hand at a hotel in south Dublin in December 2018.
The Irish sports star previously told the court he had consensual sex with Ms Hand in a penthouse at the Beacon Hotel.
Ms Hand was taken in an ambulance to the Rotunda Hospital the following day where she was assessed in the sexual assault treatment unit.
A paramedic who examined Ms Hand the day after the assault had told the court she had not seen “someone so bruised” in a long time.
