Skullgirls bombarded by negative Steam reviews after devs alter old artwork they felt was in 'poor taste' | PCGAMER
The patch removes Nazi-like armbands and almost imperceptibly tones down the sexualization of some characters.
This is honestly one where I get both sides of the argument. On the one hand, some of what was in the game doesn't really fly as happily as it did when the game release. It's honestly probably a good thing overall that things like forced sexualization and racial exploitation, to name only a couple quoted in the article, are more taboo and not as easily accepted now. I can also understand the desire to want to distance yourself from that as a dev team.
On the other hand, this is also an example of a product that people paid for, have used for a decade and should be theirs to decide how to use, being changed after the fact without their say or consent. That's a bait and switch long con, and regardless of what was removed, it should be up to the purchaser of that gets implemented.
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People really hate giving the community options to choose between the new and the old. 🤷♂️ I never liked skullgirls anyways, why don't they change their name to "Fluffy Women" instead of Skullgirls? The name is off taste too
I think people would Care less If they did these changes to their new games, but going back and changing stuff wont do any actual good for anybody. Most likely an attempt to whitewash the companies history and make them seem more pc.
going back and changing stuff wont do any actual good for anybody
I don't think it's so outrageous to think the developers / artist came together and said something along the lines of "hey we're in a different place than we were back when we released this, and are no longer comfortable with the social/sexual/racial/etc. overtones in some parts of the game."
It's helps them, it's their work and their expression being put out into the world; they have every right to want to alter it as their moral compass shifts.
The only actually shame is that their initial work seems to have attracted a pretty weirdly rabid & horny fanbase that can't stand their change in tone.
From the article:
"The current devs (who were not the original developer team from 10+ years ago) thought they had to change what worked perfectly for over a decade and run the game's sprites through 4Kids-style censorship by removing such 'offensive' elements as armbands and panty shots, for the reasons and moral standpoint known only to them," wrote one recent Steam reviewer.
I have no horse in this race - I've never played the game, nor intend to suggest I'm some kind of moral judge capable of deciding whether the changes are good or bad - but assuming that information is correct, this is new Devs that purchased the rights to the game changing the original creators design.
- "Allusions to real-world hate groups" seen in the dress and iconography of Skullgirls' Black Egret army, particularly its Nazi-like red armbands
- Instances in which characters "are fetishized and/or have sexualization imposed upon them," with particular attention toward younger characters
- Some content "believed to be in poor taste" with regard to race
If this really is the case I don’t see why people would be mad about it. It seems like the right choice.
I have poor taste and I support more content catered to me.
The first artwork comparison is... They barely changed it. Sure her butt is JUST covered up, but she still has some massive hanging tits and a top that is so skin tight and accentuates her tits so much that it looks sprayed on. And it still offends horny trolls.
I don't know what people expected from this developer after they added that furry creep as a NPC
but why? Skullgirls was already for adults, so why censor the snooty shots?
haven't played the story, but isn't it heavily based on the Nazi party? Isn't censoring that kind of defeating the purpose of artistic integrity?
either way I don't really care that much.