The game “Skullgirls” (PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X) has been available on Steam since 2013. Until a few days ago, it had excellent reviews on Steam, standing at 92%, but since a patch on June 26, players have been storming against the change. Only 23% of the recent reviews are positive. Some players feel that the new developers are compromising the game.
What kind of game is this?
- Skullgirls is a 2D fighting game that has a rough development history. A young man who liked to draw comics and a fighting fan came together and developed the game starting in 2009.
- The development was on the verge of failing in 2012 because the studio the developers joined was in trouble due to a lawsuit. Ultimately, the community funded Skullgirls with several hundred thousand dollars through crowdfunding, and the game could be released on Steam in August 2013.
- In June 2020, however, allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against the lead designer, the fighting fan who had launched the game 10 years earlier. He didn’t want to leave, leading to a scandal until he was ultimately the only developer in his studio while all others had been fired and founded a new studio that would now continue working on Skullgirls – without him.
Patch should adjust Skullgirls to “current values of the team”
What kind of patch was released? The developers of Skullgirls released a patch for the game on June 26, 2023, to adjust it “moderately to today’s values.” They are talking about some problematic content that undermines the things that make Skullgirls unique and special (via skullgirls):
- They removed allusions to hate groups in the real world: Red armbands reminiscent of Nazi symbols
- The team has altered images in some cases where characters were “sexualized” to be more child-friendly
- Some content was removed that they felt was an expression of “bad taste” now
The team states that with the changes, they are confident that they can attract new players and that the future of Skullgirls shines brighter than ever before.
This is what changed exactly: Translated, this means:
- In an image where previously the underwear of a character was visible, the skirt is now longer and the panties do not flash anymore
- In story mode, a black character is no longer beaten by the police
- An announcer pack “Soviet Announcer” was removed
A YouTuber summarized the changes in this video. Most of it is subtle and you have to look closely to see the changes:
Players call “censorship”, write negative reviews on Steam
What is causing the uproar? The game previously stood at a strong 92% positive reviews on Steam overall.
The reviews in the last 30 days have now dropped to “mostly negative”, with only 23% being positive.
A critic in the reviews emphasizes how much money and time he has already invested in Skullgirls. He says: These changes would now remove content he has already paid for. Why would content be removed that doesn’t bother anyone?
Many other negative reviews justify their aversion simply with the word “censorship” – “censorship bad” – “censorship update”.
One user says the game marketed itself in 2011 as “an offensive game with panty shots where girls with big breasts fight each other.” Imagine buying a game that presents itself this way and then changing that “advertised feature”.
Another review mentions that the original artist was thrown out and that the new developers are now ravaging the corpse of the game.
Overall, the criticism seems so harsh because there is a perception of paternalism by the developers, some kind of “woke dictatorship.” These are changes that no one asked for.
Some also emphasize that they paid for a “different game” and are now bothered by someone changing something in the “original version”.
Some voices from the old “Gamergate” days are also returning, such as Mark Kern, a former developer at WoW. Kern particularly enjoys ranting about anything he considers “woke” and “politically correct”.
He says: Skullgirls fired the original developers and has now started deleting images from the artbook for which “you paid”. He too speaks of censorship.
“1 % less lewd – and the whole game is supposed to be bad?”
Are there other voices as well? PC Gamer quotes a user with 2000 hours who says: He wants to contradict people with a negative review who have only played 5 hours and say: The whole game is now bad if it is 1% less lewd.
He implies that this is not about the game at all, but that a wave is being raised out of principle because a shift in cultural values is suspected that is not wanted.
Developers say: They anticipated backlash, stand by the decision
This is how the developers react: They said they knew what was coming. All decisions were carefully considered and discussed internally for a long time. They will not comment further on the changes.
What lies behind this: This is the same discussion that takes place when Asia MMORPGs are ported to Europe, and developers make skirts longer and tone down youthful characters.
For players who are not involved, the changes are so subtle that they hardly stand out. But for some people, even the slightest change is censorship and a shame, as someone is infringing on another’s art.
Whether the core of the game is being taken away now because the skirt is made 3 centimeters longer in one shot is certainly debatable. Whether a game will attract new players 10 years after release because the skirt is now 3 centimeters longer also seems questionable.
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