The hype around Shift Up’s upcoming AAA game is at an all-time high. The PS5 exclusive, Stellar Blade, is scheduled to come out on Friday, April 26. Much of the buzz around it has to do with all the controversies the game has surrounded itself with. The initial controversy around the game was related to the protagonist’s character design.
Many criticized the revealing outfit given to Eve, which made her look overly s*xualized. Some even argued that Shift Up has a history of creating such characters for the games. Even though there were some, who appreciated her good looks, the game had to face backlash for s*xualizing Eve.
The unintentional racist graffiti in Stellar Blade
As it is gearing up for its launch on April 26, Stellar Blade has fallen into yet another controversy. The game had a good start after the early access reviewers got their hands on it. However, the game found itself in hot water, when some reviewers came across controversial graffiti in the game.
The controversy started after reviews saw two visual elements in close proximity. The two elements were noticed on a street wall where the word “hard” was sprayed in graffiti with a neon “R” situated at the end of it. With this, many started to point out that the game has racist art.
In the meantime, Sony has come out to address that the offensive reference was ‘unintentional.’ Moreover, some fans came out to support the game. They took to X to talk about how many took the art too far to create an unnecessary controversy. User @AsukaTaichou_Z took to X and posted,
I'm black, and the slur was the last thing on my mind when I first saw this. I thought it was a sexual innuendo for HARDER. 🤷♂️
— AsukaisBae (@AsukaTaichou_Z) April 25, 2024
Several other fans took to X, and spoke about why this was an unnecessary controversy,
Dude it's a Korean game they don't even know about the hard R meme out side of film ratings.
— Disco Jensen (@DiscoJensen) April 24, 2024
White Liberals once again projecting racism where no one else sees it.
— Ninja Kuma 🐻 playing #Persona3Reload #FF7R (@TheNinjaKuma) April 24, 2024
Even better, they are actively teaching others HOW to be racist. The creators of Stellar Blade didn't intend it. 99.9% of the people that played the game would never have thought it. It took the "anti-racists" at IGN to coin this new racist term and teach it to the world.
— Melissa Cave (@melissajcave) April 24, 2024
I had no clue bruh 😂😂😂 I thought it was (harder )but idc honestly them Korean folks had no clue until they were told it’s patched now
— Loonchie Sky 🎶 🍃✊🏾 (@LoonchieBey) April 24, 2024
With the discourse going on with the graffiti, Sony has added that changes will be made to it when the game comes out.
Sony addresses the graffiti controversy surrounding Stellar Blade
While speaking to journalists from IGN regarding the controversy, representatives from PlayStation added,
“The placement of two graphics near each other in Stellar Blade resulted in an unintentional objectionable phrase. Shift Up had no intention of creating offensive artwork and will be replacing the graffiti for the Day 1 patch”
Sony has now stated that, to address the concerns of the players, the controversial graffiti will be replaced. This will be done with a patch that will come to the game on day one. This change will also come to the physical copies of the game.
Additionally, some report state that the graffiti has already been changed, where the problematic word “Hard” has been replaced with “Crime”.
