The new PS5 game Stellar Blade comes from South Korea. It was promised before the release that an uncensored version would be available worldwide. However, with the “Day One” patch 1.02, a costume was altered. There are discussions that Sony is behind it. Upset users are starting a petition to reverse the change.
This is the situation:
- As NicheGamer reports, early testers of Stellar Blade played version 1.01. This was supposed to be the uncensored version of Stellar Blade.
- However, on the release date of April 26, the developers Shift Up released patch 1.02, which reportedly included two changes that some consider a “stealth” censorship by Sony.
- The South Korean developer has commented and said that the version in the “Day One” patch is what was intended from the beginning. But some users online do not believe this and are calling it censorship, demanding the changes be reversed.
Graffiti was “accidentally” racist
What did the patch officially change? The patch came on April 26 and introduced “New Game+”.
Additionally, a graffiti in Stellar Blade was altered: The graffiti displayed two words closely together: a “Hard” and next to it a “R-Shop”. That was unfortunate.
The term “Hard R” in the USA refers to the racist pronunciation of a derogatory term (the N-word), which is considered a slang term with a “soft A”, whereas with a “hard R”, it is viewed as a racist insult against Black people.
According to Sony, this offensive graphic was “not intended” and will be removed (via ign):
“The placement of two graphics next to each other in Stellar Blade resulted in an unintended offensive formulation. Shift Up did not intend to create offensive graphics and will replace the graffiti for the Day-1 patch.”
An outfit was toned down in the patch
What unofficial change are fans upset about? It concerns the tightly cut outfit “Holiday Rabbit”: In the new version, Eve is wearing an additional clothing piece in the chest area, which covers her décolletage more.
Critics consider this to be “stealth censorship.”
Supposedly, the gore effects in the game have also been reduced. Blood no longer spreads all over Eve’s body, but is significantly reduced, a user criticizes on Twitter.
Developers want to keep the current version
What do the developers say? Game Director Hyung-Tae Kim has addressed the accusation of censorship. He states that the current version of the outfit is what was planned from the beginning. They do not wish to revert to the other version.
However, they see and understand the anger, and are thus conducting an internal discussion regarding the process (via levelup):
“Understandably, we are also aware of this issue. However, the final costume we wanted to show you is indeed the costume in version 1.0.0.2. I want to clarify that this is our final product. However, I know that this answer is not enough to convince our users. There is an internal discussion about it, so I think we will soon have the opportunity to address this issue,” said the developer.
Petition calls: Reverse the censorship
What’s the reaction? Mark Kern, a former Blizzard developer who later failed as the head of the MMO “Firefall” and has been developing a new MMO for years, has once again taken the lead in a protest. He is active on Twitter and often voices criticism of gaming studios. Eight years ago, he advocated for a “WoW Classic” – in recent years he has criticized, for example, the main menu of Starfield (via gamestar).
He has launched a petition “Free Stellar Blade,” in which he demands: “We, the players, want the content back” that Sony showed in the original version of the trailer. The censorship must be reversed.
The petition on change.org has now garnered over 31,000 signatures.
Small change – big uproar
What’s behind this: It seems unlikely that Sony would make such a precise alteration to just this one outfit among all the things in Stellar Blade and take so much criticism for it. After all, the “Skin-Suit” is still in the game.
If it had been extensive changes, one could understand the criticism better.
This is ultimately the same debate that has already taken place regarding Stellar Blade. The South Korean Stellar Blade is an ideal vehicle for voicing criticism against Western developers and their supposed exaggerated political correctness:
The new PS5 game from South Korea sparks a discussion about beautiful women in video games
