Dear Passengers' Epstein Joke Torpedoes Its Viral Launch

Half a million Steam wishlists and over 40 million views across social media in less than a day. By any measure, Dear Passengers had one of the most explosive indie reveals of 2026. Then people looked a little closer at the trailer.

Developed by Kyiv-based studio FLEXUS, Dear Passengers is a physics-based co-op game where one player flies a plane while the rest of the crew serves passengers, fights fires, and manages escalating chaos. Think Peak or Lethal Company, but at 30,000 feet. The reveal spread like wildfire, with FLEXUS founder Semen Kozyura claiming the game had already crossed 500,000 Steam wishlists. It was a dream launch for a small studio. And then viewers noticed a character in the trailer tagged "Epst. J," widely read as a reference to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Another character was named "PDaddy," an apparent nod to P. Diddy, who has faced his own abuse allegations. The Epstein-named character is shown interacting with passengers before ejecting a figure resembling Donald Trump through an airlock.

The backlash was immediate. Viral posts calling out the reference pulled tens of thousands of likes, with one surpassing 44,000. "Who would play a game that markets itself with a f***ing Epstein joke?" one user wrote. Others pledged to boycott anything from FLEXUS. According to reporting by The Gamer, a developer addressed the controversy on the game's official Discord, claiming the team doesn't condone Epstein's actions, while simultaneously encouraging Epstein jokes in the server's memes channel. Separately, a job listing surfaced requesting applicants "adept at using generative AI for concept creation," though the AI reference has since been removed from the listing on the developer's website. The developer also stated that no generative AI was used in the game's development.

I get that the trailer's tone is deliberately irreverent, and some defenders have argued the joke is at Epstein's expense rather than in his favour. But stuffing a sex offender's name into your official reveal trailer as a gag is a baffling decision for a studio riding the biggest moment of its life. FLEXUS had the entire friendslop audience in the palm of its hand, and it handed critics a reason to walk away before the game even has a release date. Dear Passengers is still listed for a 2026 PC launch on Steam, but the conversation around it has shifted from "this looks incredible" to something far less useful.