Monster Hunter: World is experiencing a strong spike in negative reviews on Steam. The reason for the bombing is a passage from the film based on the game, which was removed from theaters in China after one day.
Update: December 7, 5:46 PM – The production company Constantin Film has since commented on the situation. Constantin apologized for the scene in the Monster Hunter film and emphasized that it was not their intention to discriminate against Chinese audiences. The scene was removed from the film to avoid further misunderstandings.
What happened? The film based on the Monster Hunter franchise featuring Mila Jovovich was released in Chinese theaters on December 4 and caused a huge wave of excitement on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo. The reason was a joke made by two side characters in a scene.
As a result, the film was removed from theaters on the following day under orders from the authorities, but that was not the end of it. A harsh review bombing of Monster Hunter: World on Steam followed by Chinese players, who wrote over 2,000 negative reviews for the game:
- “Capcom is dead to me!”
- “Due to the racism in the [Monster Hunter] film, I do not recommend this game.”
What was said in the film? In the aforementioned scene from the film, two soldiers from Mila Jovovich’s team are in their combat vehicle. One male white character and the Asian character played by actor Jin Au-Yeung.
- The character played by Jin says during the drive, “Look at my knees!”
- The white actor responds, “What kind of knees are these?”
- “Chi-nese!” replies Jin’s character as a rhyme.
While the scene was intended to come off as a joking camaraderie among soldiers, the passage caused an outburst of anger on Chinese social media.
The scene was removed from Twitter and YouTube due to copyright issues.
Why is this a problem? The rhyme is a reference to a racist children’s rhyme that goes: “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these.” The rhyme has been used to discriminate against Asian children. It was accompanied by gestures that squinted the eyes to mimic the Asian eye shape.
This rhyme was used against children whose parents had emigrated to the West and is considered extremely offensive in China. Additionally, the scene was translated into subtitles with an idiom that completely altered the translation.
In the subtitles, the phrase 男儿膝下有黄金 appeared. It is an idiom about men having “gold under their knees” and only kneeling “before heaven and their mother.” It means that they must have dignity and cannot kneel down so easily.
In connection with the racist rhyme involving “dirty knees,” the tone of the scene, according to financial analyst and China specialist Daniel Ahmad, was further intensified.
What does Capcom say? The production of the film was taken over by several companies, including Constantin Film, Screen Gems, and Tencent Pictures, and the developer Capcom had relatively little to do with it. Nonetheless, they received a large share of the outrage.
On the Chinese social media platform Weibo, Capcom released a statement saying they are aware of the difficult situation. The developer emphasized that they are not the producer of the film and promised to contact the relevant companies and resolve the issue.
What happens next? After the film was pulled from all Chinese theaters, its further fate is still unclear. However, financial analyst Daniel Ahmad estimates that a complete ban of the film in China would mean a loss of at least 30 million dollars for the production company.
It is also unclear how the scene with the joke passed Chinese censorship and localization. There is still the possibility that the film could return to theaters once the relevant part has been cut out. Whether this option will be taken is hard to say.
As for the game Monster Hunter: World, the review bombing wave has since subsided, even though new reviews continue to come in. Steam has also issued a warning regarding the recent negative reviews.
They have been labeled accordingly, and the Steam page for MHW states that these reviews are currently under investigation. Should they be classified as “off-topic,” they will be removed from the game’s rating.
However, this is not the first time that MHW has been bombarded with negative reviews on Steam.
