Developer Hidden Variable Studios announced on June 27th that the fighting game “Skullgirls 2nd Encore” and “Skullgirls: Competitive RPG” for mobile have started distribution of the latest updates. However, the content of the update has caused a backlash from some users, and even “review bombing” has occurred on Steam.foreign mediaPC Gameretc. have been reported.
Skullgirls 2nd Encore is a 2D fighting game developed by Reverge Labs/Lab Zero Games. Originally released in 2012 as Skullgirls, it has since been updated to its current title. In this work, cartoon-style visuals are adopted, and many unique characters appear. It also features a game system influenced by Japanese fighting games such as the “Vampire” series.
In addition to the PC version, this work has been ported to many consoles so far. A mobile version of the game was also distributed, and Hidden Variable Studios, which worked on the mobile version, is currently leading the development of the entire series. More than 10 years have passed since the first release, and development continues, and new characters are being added.
As part of a global Skullgirls content update, we have adjusted several art assets in Skullgirls Mobile, Skullgirls 2nd Encore, and the Digital Art Compendium on all platforms.
You can read the full details and rationale behind these changes here: pic.twitter.com/YBCh5qdvOm
— Skullgirls (@Skullgirls) June 26, 2023
In the update released this time, many adjustments have been made to the character expression during play, story mode cutscenes, and the artwork recorded in the digital art collection DLC “Digital Art Compendium”.patch notesAlthough many adjustment items are listed in the report, most of them do not describe what kind of adjustments were made specifically.
So YouTube channel LalitoTV has released two videos comparing the scene before and after the update (shown below). It seems that what was recorded in the video is part of the adjusted items, but you can see the general direction. Most notably, the red armbands were removed from the uniforms of the Black Eaglet members. Black Eaglet is one of the playable characters in this work, an army that serves the royal family of Parasol, and appears in some moves and cutscenes. His armband may have been removed because the design of the military uniform reminds us of Nazi Germany.
Also, for some female characters, the color of the exposed underwear has been changed to a darker color, or some of the costumes have been changed to hide the exposed underwear and skin. It is an adjustment that seems to be intended to suppress sexual expressions. Some artwork depicting violence and bloodshed has also been modified or deleted.
In addition, the “Soviet Announcer voice pack”, which was voiced by Mike Zaimont, who once led the development of this work, has been deleted. Previously, Mr. Zaimont was accused of harassment, and this work triggered a transition to a new development system in the form of excluding Mr. Zaimont (related article).
This update has received a lot of attention within the community, and the voice of criticism is also swirling. In particular, there are many criticisms of corrections and restrictions on expressions. Depending on how you look at it, it may have included sensitive expressions, but it seems that the background is the incomprehensibility that something that has not been particularly problematic so far has been suddenly corrected. In addition, the expression that the original staff has worked on has been modified by Hidden Variable Studios, which appeared after the harassment accusation mentioned above and began to lead the development. It seems that
As a result, Steam was flooded with unpopular reviews immediately after the update was released, causing the so-called “review bombing”. Review bombing is the act of intentionally manipulating the review score of a particular title by posting a large number of reviews in a short period of time. Originally, this work had a very high favorable rating, but at the time of writing this article, the recent review (last 30 days) status has fallen to “somewhat unpopular”. In the content of reviews, there are many criticisms of the above-mentioned modification of expressions and regulations. Many related topics have been posted and discussed on the Steam bulletin board as well.
Prior to the distribution of this update, Charley Price, co-founder and creative director of Hidden Variable Studios, explained the intention of the update.explanationWas. While he said that Skullgirls has a long history of being colored by the contributions of various staff members, he believes that past decisions in some content make it truly unique and special. commented that it has hindered As such, we have made the decision to make some changes to the content to better reflect the studio’s values and broader vision for the game.
One of the changes, the uniform of the Black Egret members, was originally created with the image of an oppressive military regime, but it was decided that the expression was too close to the “real agitation group”. Regarding the expression of the character’s sexuality, it is explained that although it has a meaning in the story of this work, it has been adjusted in a way that is not exploitative.
Mr. Price commented that the change was necessary in order to expand the world view of “Skullgirls” in the future. While saying that there may be some fans who are unconvinced about these changes, he asked for understanding as the result of careful consideration over a long period of time by all the staff of the current development team.
Mr. Price also said that he would not discuss any further changes in wording with this update. It is a final decision and will not revert to the previous wording. However, there is a lot of backlash from the community. Whether the developer will ignore it and push through, or show some kind of compromise, the future response will be watched.
“Skullgirls 2nd Encore” is available on PC (Steam) and PS4/Xbox 360 (backward compatible) are being distributed domestically. “Skullgirls: Competitive RPG” is now available for iOS/Android.
