In this clip from Open Bar 93, Grummz explains the backlash against censorship of Stellar Blade, how it all began and what it means for the wider gaming industry.
To be fair, they totally would. The religious right has historically been a force of censorship across the modern age. BUT, that doesn’t mean they have a monopoly on censorship.
@@shaifs5072 ok, I get what you're saying, but Muscular Woman can be Attractive too (So long as it doesn't go TOO Rediculous) Case in point: Urbosa from BotW!! 😍🤤
That, and it's also about certain marxist cancel-grifters running through the industry like bulls in a china shop: It's not about following any logic in the censorship (as we can see that ugly, gay, etc. people can show as much as they like...even to little children! It's about obeying a small group of leftist cancel-vultures who work in the media, NGOs and now even in the gaming companies. They don't have any logic, they just have power which they want to wield randomly and they expect companies to obey whenever they have one of their knee-jerk reactions.
Literally rated M for mature already, are they trying to "protect adults"? Nah, send these people to a daycare or something for "adults" because the complainers can't be trusted with anything at that point.
Most vidoo game conpanies have done that a lot for a _long_ time. Virtua fighter 4 - Evolution (PS2) In the Japan version, Vanessa Lewis is wearing a smokin' hot outfit. In most other versions (example = USA), they replaced _all_ of her stuff with some military garbage! Panel de pon (SNES) The Japan version was great. The USA version got _destroyed_ by Nintendo. (There's an english language patch for the Japan version.)
There are still TABLETOP games! Be anti-establishment; meet REAL people, be social in RL, do things where you can actually SEE OTHER PEOPLE around you. I swear, it's actually pretty damn great.
This is about limiting choice, not expanding it. They need to subvert "Normative Standards" and natural Beauty and the valuation of the feminine form is exactly what the androgynous potatoes want to sublate/subvert/transform, etc.
@@michaelrizzo7342100% accurate. The modern world is anti-hetero and doubly anti-male. The woke cultists know we love games, therefore they must destroy games.
I think/hope as time goes by, we'll get more companies and/or at least indie creators telling these toxic people to go *piss off* somewhere. I think we're going to see a LOT of these companies dialing it back, restructuring, or outright going out of business similar to how Volition (Saints Row reboot) did in the coming years.
One has to understand the pickenchoosy mind. No way. It's bipolar and it's always something. Typical female mindset - nothing is alright until I say so. Everything is faulty unless I say it isn't. You know the girl boss type... I just don't get it why those have such influence on games mostly males play. How many female gamers are there? 1 in 10? 1 in 20?
It’s so ridiculous. There’s no way the devs knew what “HARD R” means in the US. And even if by some insane miracle they did know, there’s still nothing wrong with it, besides being hilarious.
@@tuorofgondolin8235 i din't either, until I searched online and discovered the feared word don't even start with an 'R'. Ffs, americans are starting to pick up letters and getting offended by it.
I only heard of it in a meme once a few years ago on /pol/, where the Hard Rock cafe had lights burnt out leaving only the HARD and the R remaining. Even then I still thought it meant someone who is "disabled" as in RE- you get it. It's a REALLY obscure, black only in parts of the US kind of thing. It's more like, if you aren't familiar with it, you'll certainly never guess the context.
I’m American and I thought Hard R meant R as in the rating for a movie lol, but when I heard it being explained, I understood, but still, it’s not what I thought the first time I heard it.
No one deserves credit in this. Sony arguably deserves less of your vitriol! They're Sony! You know what they do! SU should never have partnered with them, period! And then the gull to claim it will be uncensored WORLD WIDE! lol, lmao even! And especially anyone who buys this game/console! Giving money to people who hate you! 🤡
@@That_Guy- also I will add if you connect to the internet at all then disconnect again it will want to read the download. So i just keep my PS5 offline until I finish the game. Also people have found that the NG+ is on the disc but you have to get to the final boss and beat it with the update. Then start a NG+ and once you the game to save. Delete the game to remove the update and reinstall forem the disc and you will keep the NG+.
The "hard r" thing is something only people from the US could find offensive. It reminds me how some poeple go crazy about the word "negro", which literally means black in spanish. But some people think they're the center of the universe, and everything is directed to them.
It sucks this had to happen cos stellar blade was all set to the be the sweetest, most luscious “Fuck You” to western studios and 8 years of having Ogre-like characters shoved in our face.
@@StayFractalesque dude that's the point, we want that product sold to us with our desires in mind. That's how AAA gaming was built in the first place. If it's a fuck you to the other side that is attacking those desires and forcing their world view into the stuff that was built on our desires, the fuck you is warranted
This issue is so perplexing to me. How can a woman sell her body in OF for the price of 2 mcdoubles; and that'd empowering. Yet, a studio using an attractive, not real, woman to sell their game be an issue ?
Censorship is Censorship, plain and simple. If sony is ok with Abby from last of us 2 having (UNCENSORED) sex in full display, then Sony should allow Shift Up to do the same.
@@kaj7135Agreed, Abby was a woman from the neck up. Everything below was that of a juiced up body builder. Nothing more disgusting than that combination.
@@aaronclay4665 So you're explanation is they just lied when they said it would be uncensored in all regions? Why bother lying about that and then censoring it? Makes more sense for it to be Sony.
For _Disney+_ they added some CGI hair to the 1984 movie _Splash._ ..to cover _more_ of the mermaid's backside than they _already_ had covering it. Meanwhile, _Hugh Jackman's_ is uncensored in _Days of Future Past.._
Hell, I’ll take the right half as another costume, but censoring the original? If the player character looked like Abby from TLoU2, bet that would be ok.
It’s not about sexiness, it’s not about anime, it’s only about power. The fake journalists want to be the gatekeepers. This is why they hate anime and games that are more direct to consumer.
Can someone explain to me, why so many people tell that Stellar Blade sexualizes women, when almost every single female celebrity wears open dresses during Oscar? Seriously, sometimes I can barely tell is it a dress or some fancy underwear.
Every female I’ve seen play the game has been loving the game and her design and is like “okay girl! Damn” when that shot at the beginning plays as she exits the pod for the first time. And they also all love Tachy and think she’s gorgeous immediately as they see her. Women like to see beautiful women.
Why is no one talking about the loss of gore that sanitized the game. Eve was covered in blood at the end of the first boss battle in the demo and now stands in a shower of blood perfectly clean. That was worse even gameplay wise than the outfits (which is also bad).
The gore wasn't necessarily the selling point for this game, it isn't Mortal Kombat, first thing you see prominently is the pretty, sexy and clean female character
@@CYRU5_DA_GR34TI wanted the blood and combat. I could care less about outfits or a hot pixel chick. She could be a dude for all I care. My wife is in better shape than Eve.
because its some nerds who never seen a girl before and dont seem to know porn sites is a thing... the game is exactly like they advertized. they changed some outfits... this is just sad man.
Any censorship is fundamentally taking away from a product, it never adds to the product or makes it better in any sense. It is some authority claiming they know best and in the process trample over the freedom of a creator because SOMEONE or those that enforce it have taken a disliking to some aspect of the work. Now to make something clear it doesn't matter if it's a small or big censorship, it always needs to be called out for what it is. Another thing to note is that there are censors or restrictions built into law, rules but the big difference is that these are known by a creator ahead of time that you can't do X thing for X reason. For example you can't put extreme gore in a day time TV show for kids for the obvious reason that it would frighten children who might be watching. That sort of restriction or censoring isn't impacting the work in question because it makes logical sense why it's in place and no would argue that platforms aren't allowed to set rules on what they allow to be shown. Also that content wouldn't be censored if it was on at a later night time slot or a different TV channel. It's been just restricted and the creator can choose whether they do something like a censored and uncensored version for different time slots. What is not okay to be a double faced bitch and say a TV station allows stuff like full on sex scenes in some shows but than in another start screeching about a different sex scene. It's either all of that stuff is fine or none of it is and offer an alternative where that art or TV can be viewed or whichever platform it is makes it known from the start, sorry we don't allow that type of content.
Gentlemen? It's time. No more abs for women. We've spoiled them for too long, and they've stopped appreciating it. Shirts on until further notice. (My six pack may be new, but it's still mine to withhold. So's yours.)
@@Soridan You'd like yourself at least 20% more than you do now if you took better care of yourself. (Anything else is just indirectly carrying water for a cardiologist at some point. And they're douches for the most part.)
Remember when MK9 came out, with several sexy badass female characters, all with outfits just as revealing as Eve's? Remeber how no one gave a damn, they just loved the game?
The worst is that at this point there have been at least a dozen of outfits identified, that have been changed or potentially changed. Some even multiple times. So this is not just limited to the day-1-patch. And you can't bring the argument of "planned design choices", when they all follow the same pattern: covering skin.
Its not about objectifing or misogyny, its about revenge. In the past anything other than straight sexuality was a taboo in the media, they are reversing it. Now the straight sexuality or anything that is attractive to a straight person is a taboo in the media
Allowing companies to market a game one way and then change it post-launch is a road we don't want to go down. Some ppl think "this is a nothingburger", but these companies will take it to the extreme if we allow it.
THIS is why nothing will EVER change, acting like this is no big deal because it's only a little bit of censorship. F that and anyone who thinks that it's OK, it's not. I will happily stick with people who actually WANT my money, indie developers. These people obviously care more about a couple of people's feelings who won't even buy these games than what their customers want.
Get used to it. This is how it is now. You're better off just giving up and learning to live with it. You people have lost the culture war. Except defeat.
This. "It is just a minor change", "come one, it was just a few texts" and yet it all keeps getting worse. If it is enough of an issue for them to care, it is enough for me to care.
@@Brnrsn9vi First off, it's ACCEPT defeat dumbass. Second, nobody has to get used to it, I just stop giving these people money. They will have no choice but to change or go out of business. NO company can survive without customers, WE have the power.
What I don't get is why those particular outfits were censored. There are outfits in the game that are more revealing and risqué which were left untouched. There's a bikini and thong outfit that has more cleavage visible than the uncensored bunny outfit, and you get a literal lingerie outfit as a reward for collecting all the soda cans, so what was it about those couple outfits that forced them to be changed?
It seems to be completely arbitrary, isn't it? If I had to guess, it may be a compromise Sony forced onto the devs. It's not like any of the things Sony has ever censored makes any sense. They just seem to think that they MUST not entirely compromise with what gamers want, because what gamers want is to END esg scores and wokeness, and they still want that sweet BlackRock money so gotta save face by showing that are still woke.
@@Rivershield What's funny about that is Blackrock is losing money from their funds. They've had several states pull all funds from Blackrock run retirement funds due to the ESG issues and others who had money invested through Blackrock are pulling out because the ESG funds fail to provide good returns on the investment, and the people investing in those funds are close to retirement and don't have the luxury of not getting the maximum amount of return each year. It won't be tomorrow, but within 2-3 years Blackrock is going to be shrinking rapidly and all of these companies that have chased the ESG money are going to find that they are paying an incredibly heavy price to get that investment today.
Afaik, we don't have any hard proof that Sony themselves demanded for Stellar Blade to be censored. It's a reasonable assumption given past behavior (I lean more towards this explanation myself), but it's technically not known either way. If it was Sony, my best guesses are either that these outfits were the most popular with players or they were a part of some kind of mutual agreement between Sony and Shift Up. If it wasn't Sony, it's possible these changes were always intended by Shift Up themselves, but they got updated too late. The most bad faith assumption is that they censored these outfits so that they can put up the uncensored ones for purchase later, but that's a complete and unfounded guess. Frankly, no explanation out there really answers your main question lol, but this is the best we've got
The developers should've just pulled a Kojima move. When the Metal Gear Solid girl had literal bikini costume, he was critised a lot for it. My boy Kojima spit in their mouths saying that it had lore reasons 🔥🔥🔥
Or taken the Nier Automata route. When people took upskirt pictures of 2B and puritans got up in arms about it, Yoko Taro asked for more pictures to be sent to him because he likes sexy women in heels.
@Noximien oh it was more hilarious than that. People were talking to him about how they were making porn of his characters. His response was "How horrible! Please send me everything you find so I can examine just how vile it all is for myself!" Yoko is based.
@@NoximienTaro is horny as fuck, and it's awesome. Everyone shit on him and Platinum, until they realized how great the story was. Now she's a goddess in gaming. But he hasn't shyed away from his horniness for Eve. 😂
@9:20 The reason western studios get a pass is because it's queer coded. BG3 and Cyberpunk are 'queer-coded', the sexual elements are added to allow inclusion and diversity. Stellar Blade appeals almost predominantly to the straight male, so journos and blue-hairs think it's bad.
I’m glad someone else is saying this. It’s silly logic, but it’s also not exactly hard to see the difference between the two IPs from the perspective of progressives. They would say they aren’t anti-sex, they’re anti-misogyny. I disagree with the reasoning, and I think their argument is a bad faith argument at its core, but I also feel like fighting a bad faith argument with another one isn’t the way to go about it. The best way to combat a position is to represent it correctly.
If actual people are going to choose between a sexy girl and a fugly girl, choosing the sexy girl is the obvious answer. Its the people who never played the game or a video game in their life that complains about this.
If a game is rated 18+ doesn’t that mean we can do or see whatever the hell we want we are full grown adults, what’s the problem. Are kids running this industry?
That’s why I love that Valve started to allow AO games. Even though their standards of what is and isn’t okay is all over the place. They are still the only major platform who allow it and the world hasn’t imploded (shock). I’m going to turn 36, so I’ll have been an adult for just as long as I was a minor. And I have been over being treated like I am a child or there’s a child hovering over me at all times so I can’t have anything as an adult. And this game isn’t even that it’s just fanservice, so it’s goofy.
Include both versions in the game and give the player the option to select "standard" or "explicit"...that's the only "reasonable" solution" imo. I doubt that will appease the "unhappy people" because they want everyone to be forced into their mindset but tough !!!
The thing for me is that sure, these changes aren't too extreme and the outfits still look good, but its the precedent it sets that at any point a new patch could suddenly come along with even more strict censorship. Imagine if the next patch gives her shorts over the top or something ridiculous. It should be illegal for a company to change a product after launch that you have paid for. I think some pushback was needed to hopefully make them think twice about doing it again in future.
Same. That one was pretty funny... not nearly as funny as "Tiddy-Bear", though. 😆😂 That one had to be a joke. I refuse to believe they actually sold those! 😂
Far as I can tell your definition of “hard-r” changes depending where you live. To me it means n word. I don’t even when’s the last time I heard of movie with an NC-17 rating. I think they’re more common outside the US.
Because Blackrock tells them to and such investors are willing to lose money on one of their investments if necessary because they can deduct those losses in taxation, thus paying less taxes for their profits which they made elsewhere.
@@pistonburner6448 Blackrock and other DEI pushers also seem to have a lot of clout with pretty much all big financers, basically ensuring that if a company refuses to fully comply to their DEI demands, that company will have a very hard time finding a financer willing to lend them any money. My suspicion is that these DEI companies have manoeuvred themselves into the position of being the middleman, who profits from the money lending to gaming companies twice on each deal.
Sony turned a huge win into an unnecessary controversy. They absolutely should not have imposed the censorship update, it's a Mature rated game. Lean into it and enjoy the sales, there will always be a minority that are displeased and you can't dilute art to suit everyone.
The Hard and Crime with the R next to it graffiti I had to look it up. I didn't realize that saying either one would be even considered an insult. I found it odd.
I hope Grummz is right that, with ESG money drying up, game companies will stop this weird obsession with uglifying game characters. And I also hope that the nitwits at institutions like Blackrock will pull their heads out and stop strongarming companies with their financial policies.
he is in a way. ESG will dry up, but BRIDGE will replace it. BRIDGE will be way worse. ESG just checks boxes. BRIDGE is a way of life. these communists want absolute control over everything.
if they truly HAD to do it then make it opptional since who doesnt love optional things(might as well give you the option to chose what you want for the specific part of the out fit while we are at it)
Sony censoring the outfits is absurd, considering you can take the outfits off and play the game "naked." The outfits don't show you anything you can't see by wearing nothing.
@mayogamer2800 You can play the game without armor and have just the skinsuit on, which is effectively Eve being naked. Eve isn't human, so she's not 100% biologically accurate. She has no nipples to show or anything, but you can just play the game "naked."
@@beowulfsrevenge4369 the skin suit is still a suit. She probably has human "anatomy" beneath that. We do see someone like her who I won't name for spoilers naked and yeah, they are pretty much human like beneath their suits.
When it comes to censorship. Its always gonna be hypocritical. Some developers will get away with some shit that other cant. Last of us part 2 had a sex scene and nowhere was that censored. This game got crapped on for being from a foreign developer. As i notice sony tend to cut slack to western developers
@@That_Guy- Tsukuhime put out a statement saying that the PS version of the artbook will feature 2 "graphical changes", while the Nintendo Switch version will be unaltered. We've known for years that Sony imposes their own selective censorship, even on M-rated titles that already passed ESRB. They do it mainly to Asian games with pretty, feminine beauty, while western releases are free to show full, graphic, uncensored naked genitals and have sex scenes, etc. The double standards are an everyday thing for Sony
Or: this is an option in a free country, which they no longer want us to be, but anyway…in a free country a person who has strong feels about empowering the ugly or average can go create their own game. It is the trait of a free country that a good idea can profit, yes, but an innovative approach can also change minds and mold culture. Don’t complain, go do. But a desire for taking responsibility is not why people cry for things. No need to. Because taking responsibility is going to do.
11:09 So much this. Women who want smoking hot fantasy figures have been pissed about this long before "woke" was a word. DC Comics will never admit they lost scores of Catwoman fans in 2001 when they remade her with short hair, a flat chest, and a costume universally praised as "practical."
can someone tell me how does grummz have this feature where he talks through an animated character that moves with his lips and facial expression? i tried looking online but to no avail. how does one do it?
Indeed. That's peak stupidity. You hit this people in the wallet or not at all*. Pissing and moaning gains nothing. *I mean, unless you actually confront them face to face, that's a whole other ball game.
The Stellar Blade issue is much worse and darker than we think. Making women unattractive and manly, while simultaneously making men more feminine is a sinister plan that is coming from the top.
"Beauty sells. Imagine if McDonald's instead marketed the burger you actually get instead of the beautiful picture." (paraphrased) Perfectly put, Tyrone.
I will stick to the last phrase Grummz said at 15:40. "Right now is sort of a pivotal time where we are swinging back". I really really hope this is true. A perfect quote to end the video man.
Eve is based on real life Korean model Shin Jae- eun . Girl is beautiful and her character in game is beautiful. Koreans appreciate beautiful women.Many of us appreciate beautiful women.
This is exactly the same as when EA Bioware, decided that Miranda Lawson's physical appearance was something that 'needed' adjusting in their Mass Effect Legendary Edition. They decided she was too attractive and sexualised, (despite the fact that her character was genetically 'perfect') so they reduced the size of her arse. Even though it has been 10 years, and Mass Effect 2's popularity was no doubt enhanced because she was attractive. It made sense in the development of her character to be physically attractive, the dichotomy of being genetically perfect and yet socially unaccepted due to the impression of her being arrogant, superior and unapproachable. (Cerberus Cheerleader) Removing features of a game people already love only to remarket it as a remastered edition seems like an insult, because they want to espouse some misguided sense of liberal morality. Who would bother to repurchase a game they already own if it did not provide the original experience in addition to enhancing pre-existing features to increase replayability...
I thought the Hard R was to do with the age rating. The censorship hasnt put me off playing Stellar Blade. I LOVE the combat. But it really pisses me off they did censor it after telling us it was going to be uncensored everywhere.
How the turns have tabled. Sony has become so censor happy. Meanwhile, Nintendo has allowed their more mature IP to dive headfirst into the depths of degeneracy.
The main thing that confuses me is that there are plenty of other outfits in the game that "exemplify" Eve's figure a lot, so I wonder why the bunny hoodie in particular came under the censorship hammer, while the other's as far as I'm aware were unchanged.
Petition is up to 75,000. Come on guy's lets give em something to cry about. Lets do it for Stella Blade. Do it for Hell Divers 2. Down with censorship. Stick it to the hypocrites of Sony and gaming journos.
The black triangle is a camisole under the one-piece. They are typically worn over a bra or in place of a bra. It's a modesty thing to hide too much cleavage. Sometimes for fashion. It should be an option for the costume, not a default.
I thought 20 years ago, that anime is not only for kids, having seen i.E. Evangelion and Monster. I'd expect that sales numbers should persuade the big mofos but looking at the manga vs comics situation, it doesnt seem so.
Personally im not going to plag the game its not my thing. However the reason i care about this is because censorship is an issue and as the age old saying goes, give them an inch they will take a mile. So in other words eventually, a game i enjoy, will be the one facing censorship if this isnt combated.
I saw this coming from a mile away really. Though my main issue is they advertise it one way for the longest time and conveniently the creator just happens to want to alter some designs practically at the last minute via a mandatory patch.
Literally was excited for this game when it was called Project Eve 4 years ago. Never saw any skimpy outfit or anything just her green one in the first teaser & I wanted the game so bad.
Shift Up has censored their global releases for a few years now. Its just that the first time it happened, it was to their first Mobile game Destiny Child. And as such everyone rolled their eyes. People being up in arms about it happening again with their 3rd game, Especialy when the console is Playstation, feels hollow to me.
It’s not about a piece of cloth. Heck it isn’t even about the agenda. It’s the sense of control. Life is getting harder, people are losing perspective in this increasingly hostile world. No matter how small, even a game is worth looking forward to. At least with in this game we have some control, there’s something we like. Now that got taken away. The few things we still had control over, another is lost. It’s nothing big really, just a few inches of cloth, but it’s enough to be the last straw.
I absolutely loved jedi survivors Koboh exploration and stellar blades wasteland is very reminiscent of it... absolutely love it so far...the horror mission was something else❤ felt a bit like dead space with the overgrown sinewy interiors etc
Goodness... I didn't know about the Hard R.. that's so esoteric that only people in a small part of academia paid attention to it. That's crazy... Only found out about it now. It is also two steps removed...
Insecurity is one hell of a motivator when it comes to pushing agendas. What's really funny about most game journalists is the fact that it's pretty evident they suck at video games "I can't play it so I need to complain" Censorship only protects people too dumb to walk away from things they dont like.
It's the same for women as it is for men. as a woman, the most I can aspire to be with my limited imagination is to have a body like Aerith from Final Fantasy. like my mind wouldn't go any further than that and if you say for example "Do you want a body like Aertih from FF or Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit or having Eve's butt" i would definitely go to Aerith not because I hate Jessica's body or eve's butt (i would if I could, lol) but immediately realism kicks in and I would say "Jessica and eve's body are way over my league".
Eve's gorgeous looks aside, I've been having lots of fun playing the game! Yeah the story's not gonna win a Hugo award, but it's more than serviceable for a game. The combat however is deeper than I expected and feels really satisfying. The little lightnings when you parry for example, the Burst moves, the special sword moves (don't wanna spoil) etc all feel great. Add to that the no microtransactions and character customization and you've got a very solid game. Eve being stunning is just an added bonus!
