Skullgirls 2nd Encore from Hidden Variable Studios and Autumn Games is having some community issues lately, with it getting review-bombed after a recent update.
What's going on exactly? Skullgirls now has a Mostly Negative recent user review rating on Steam, and you can clearly see the masses that have been flocking to the Steam page to let their feelings be known:
The why: on June 26th the developers announced some changes to existing content in the game and the Digital Art Compendium. The full list of changes can be seen here and it's not a long list so it's an easy overview. The developers made a longer post a few days before to explain why.
Reading through the updates were done "in the spirit of better reflecting our values and our broad vision for Skullgirls moving forward" which include removing Nazi-like depictions including armbands and symbols, adjusting some character artwork to remove sexualization of younger characters and racial stereotype issues they believed to be in poor taste.
Overall, the tweaks they've made seem quite small but this hasn't stopped the wave of negativity with user reviews complaining about "censorship" and going "woke". It's not entirely negative though, as a few hundred have also come along to leave a positive review but not enough to stop the overall recent review score looking really bad.
This YouTube video does a good look at some of the changes. Some are really a blink and you'll miss it type of deal and most players probably wouldn't even notice:
Direct Link
Since the update around 3,449 negative reviews have been posted against 868 positive reviews, and it looks like the initial reaction is now dying off.
It does also bring up the interesting topic of how in the age of the internet and the likes of Steam, even games 10 years old can suddenly have changes you really might not like. Even when they're not technically some online-only "live service" type of thing.
Skullgirls certainly hasn't had the best history, with the original studio Lab Zero collapsing after a bunch of developers quit accusing the owner Mike Zaimont of various counts of inappropriate behaviour. After this Lab Zero laid off everyone else who hadn't quit.
You can buy a copy of Skullgirls from Humble Store and Steam.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Metallinatus Jul 4, 2023
Quoting: Mountain ManYou would think companies would have learned by now that trying to score points with this "social awareness" and "inclusivity" BS always backfires.
Finally, finally a delusional "go woke go broke" individual to pretend that WOKE Street Fighter 6, WOKE Guilty Gear Strive, WOKE Mario Bros. movie, WOKE The Last of Us 2 etc etc, are not all massive successes.
Thank you, I was worried I would go to sleep without seeing a comment like yours today :)
slaapliedje Jul 4, 2023
Quoting: elmapulBlazing Saddles is a perfect example of this.Quoting: slaapliedjeAs far as hating on removal of racist imagery making you a racist? What if it is important to the story line that you are taking out a band of racists, but some sensitivity editor decides that shouldn't be in the game, and now you're just killing a bunch of random people? :Pa good example of that is the series "everybody hate criss" wich have a bunch of racist jokes that are intended to show how absurd racism is, it make fun, mock how ridiculuous racism is all the time, yet it feature racism to show that.
should it be censored too?
Quoting: F.UltraQuoting: elmapulbut most of the time the changes arent trying to censor something for another audience that is bothered by this type of content
The SICs always makes this claim but is there any evidence what so ever that the devs made this change for "another audience" and not just because they themselves begun to feel uncomfortable with the original design?
I think this is a new game development studio stamping their mark. Skullgirls was developed by Lab Zero until they imploded, and Hidden Variable Studios took over as stewards by the publisher. I am not sure if any of the original Skullgirls team work for Hidden Variable Studios now.
I suspect the 'other audience' are the developers themselves, who may love the concept of Skullgirls but, perhaps, did not enjoy the degree certain themes were taken.
Yanking stuff out that I was accustomed to? Maybe it's nothing to you, but it may be something that made me laugh and endeared me to the game. Nope... I'll be vindictively angry too if you remove something I liked.
(I don't care about this game, I'm not interested in the least and as far as Nazis go, they exist solely for me to kill in entertaining ways. It's the general principle of the matter I'm at odds with)
Last edited by Grogan on 4 July 2023 at 9:58 pm UTC
Mountain Man Jul 4, 2023
Quoting: MetallinatusQuoting: Mountain ManYou would think companies would have learned by now that trying to score points with this "social awareness" and "inclusivity" BS always backfires.
Finally, finally a delusional "go woke go broke" individual to pretend that WOKE Street Fighter 6, WOKE Guilty Gear Strive, WOKE Mario Bros. movie, WOKE The Last of Us 2 etc etc, are not all massive successes.
Thank you, I was worried I would go to sleep without seeing a comment like yours today :)
Oh dear, I appear to have triggered someone.
Metallinatus Jul 4, 2023
Quoting: kit89Quoting: F.UltraQuoting: elmapulbut most of the time the changes arent trying to censor something for another audience that is bothered by this type of content
The SICs always makes this claim but is there any evidence what so ever that the devs made this change for "another audience" and not just because they themselves begun to feel uncomfortable with the original design?
I think this is a new game development studio stamping their mark. Skullgirls was developed by Lab Zero until they imploded, and Hidden Variable Studios took over as stewards by the publisher. I am not sure if any of the original Skullgirls team work for Hidden Variable Studios now.
I suspect the 'other audience' are the developers themselves, who may love the concept of Skullgirls but, perhaps, did not enjoy the degree certain themes were taken.
The way the story goes is that the game's creator, MikeZ, was accusad of sexual abuse by his team, so they all left Lab Zero and founded Future Club without him, who took over game development after Lab Zero.
AKA, it's the same people, minus that guy.
Metallinatus Jul 4, 2023
Quoting: Mountain ManQuoting: MetallinatusQuoting: Mountain ManYou would think companies would have learned by now that trying to score points with this "social awareness" and "inclusivity" BS always backfires.
Finally, finally a delusional "go woke go broke" individual to pretend that WOKE Street Fighter 6, WOKE Guilty Gear Strive, WOKE Mario Bros. movie, WOKE The Last of Us 2 etc etc, are not all massive successes.
Thank you, I was worried I would go to sleep without seeing a comment like yours today :)
Oh dear, I appear to have triggered someone.
^the go to response when you literally get proven wrong and has no argument to debate anything of what I said.
Feeding time is over, you can talk to my hand from now on.
Mountain Man Jul 4, 2023
Quoting: MetallinatusQuoting: Mountain ManQuoting: MetallinatusQuoting: Mountain ManYou would think companies would have learned by now that trying to score points with this "social awareness" and "inclusivity" BS always backfires.
Finally, finally a delusional "go woke go broke" individual to pretend that WOKE Street Fighter 6, WOKE Guilty Gear Strive, WOKE Mario Bros. movie, WOKE The Last of Us 2 etc etc, are not all massive successes.
Thank you, I was worried I would go to sleep without seeing a comment like yours today :)
Oh dear, I appear to have triggered someone.
^the go to response when you literally get proven wrong and has no argument to debate anything of what I said.
Feeding time is over, you can talk to my hand from now on.
We're literally discussing a company that is facing extreme backlash after alienating their core audience with ill advised changes in an attempt to be more "socially aware". But, no, you go ahead and tell yourself that I've somehow been proven wrong.
Quoting: F.Ultrai dont know what SIC means, but the staff changed completely afaik, the new staff have 0 respect for what came before then or the original target audience.Quoting: elmapulbut most of the time the changes arent trying to censor something for another audience that is bothered by this type of content
The SICs always makes this claim but is there any evidence what so ever that the devs made this change for "another audience" and not just because they themselves begun to feel uncomfortable with the original design?
Metallinatus Jul 5, 2023
Quoting: elmapulQuoting: F.Ultrai dont know what SIC means, but the staff changed completely afaik, the new staff have 0 respect for what came before then or the original target audience.Quoting: elmapulbut most of the time the changes arent trying to censor something for another audience that is bothered by this type of content
The SICs always makes this claim but is there any evidence what so ever that the devs made this change for "another audience" and not just because they themselves begun to feel uncomfortable with the original design?
This is the team working on Skullgirls now: https://skullgirls.fandom.com/wiki/Future_Club
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me