Thoughts on selling your game off sex appeal (Stellar Blade) in 2024?

[catalystical]

It's how the criticism is structured and delivered. If it's coming off as ragebait then sure IGN deserves every bit of flak thrown their way. Comments like that is by design supposed to trigger an reaction.

But if the criticism is structured around how it's an issue promoting unrealistic expectations then sure. If the intention and origin of the criticism is well-intended then they would have easily gotten away with it.

That said, looking at the promo stuff, it's just eye candy and fan service. That kind of stuff. It's not like the characters are nude or partially nude. People's bodies have lines. Some people have nicer lines than others and some people work really hard to get and keep those lines. It's really tame and not blown out of proportions to be honest.

[zapiks44]

I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread for this game, but the upcoming major release Stellar Blade has been garnering an immense amount of controversy for its heavily sexualized content; .

That "controversy" does not exist off the internet. Terminally online "activists" are a microscopically small portion of the gaming audience. Look at Hogwarts Legacy for proof. For months before its release that game was subject to "controversies" and calls for "boycotts", yet when it was released it became the highest selling game of the year, even beating out Call of Duty's yearly release. Shows just how much power and influence those people really have.

The vast majority of the people who will buy this game either think the "controversy" is a good thing or haven't even heard of it.

And the sooner IGN shuts down, the better.

[unfilteredJW]

That "controversy" does not exist off the internet. Terminally online "activists" are a microscopically small portion of the gaming audience. Look at Hogwarts Legacy for proof. For months before its release that game was subject to "controversies" and calls for "boycotts", yet when it was released it became the highest selling game of the year, even beating out Call of Duty's yearly release. Shows just how much power and influence those people really have.

The vast majority of the people who will buy this game either think the "controversy" is a good thing or haven't even heard of it.

And the sooner IGN shuts down, the better.

Nice burner.

[Zython]

As a cishet man, I think the real issue I have with all of this is the hypocrisy of the people stanning for Stellar Blade. How long have we heard these people rage about how gender-nonconforming people shouldn't be represented in games, or even be allowed to exist in real life? Then they rage on games like Baulder's Gate 3 and Hades 2 for expressing sexuality in ways that make them personally uncomfortable. These people don't care about sexual expression. They want everything to cater to them and only them. That's the real problem here.

[Mehrunes]

So do you have some sort of actual proof that Bayonettas sexualization wasn't a core part of the story and gameplay or are you just gonna ramble?

Because pointing out the DMC joke just kinda proves that you're missing the point. And you're also not exactly proving any points on Eves sexualization being important to the game outside of "we just wanted to this way".

How convenient that the DMC comparison is suddenly a joke when you're addressing my post (and @unfilteredJW's commentary on the exchange here), yet 3 pages later you're somehow using the same goddamn argument about it to "disprove" @Orange Joe. I guess the argument identifies as joke-fluid ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But sure, I'm the one rambling here.

Not you, with such stellar arguments (to follow up on this reply to Orange Joe there) like "everyone who's played Bayonetta agrees with my premise so I don't have to prove it because burden of proof hanged itself just now". Which is fallacious to the max to begin with, but is even funnier when it's already been argued by others in this very thread that Bayonetta was not seen as some kind a feminist icon outside of LGBT circles and that feminists per se complained about her. They must have overdosed on empowerment, I guess.

Or "her over-sexualization is a part of her attitude and behavior" (or, more accurately, her over-sexualization extends to her attitude and behavior), as if that actually changed anything here. Or the part where in an earlier post you yourself pointed out that Bayonetta's sexualization was such a core concept it actually wasn't a core concept about the character they had in mind when they started developing her and it's something that only came up later.

2) The point about it being "special pleading for Bayonetta"(whatever that new buzzword means) is just the typical MMOC kind of argument that screams "I CAME INTO THE TOPIC HALFWAY AND DON'T FEEL LIKE SPENDING TIME ACTUALLY UNDERSTANDING WHAT'S GOING ON!".

Kindly don't project your own laziness or whatever else you're doing here. I've read the entire thread and I was keeping up on it before you even started your convoluted nonsense. Sorry to disappoint you and your cop out. And no, IF YOU WRITE THAT BS IN CAPS LOCK IT WON'T MAGICALLY GAIN +5 TO VALIDITY. Sorry to disappoint again.

If you agree with that, then that's all my point literally is. The issue I'm having is people like OJ who jump in just to keep trying to insist "no it's hypocritical" and then brings absolutely nothing to prove that besides going "nah I just know better"

As opposed to "experts agree" levels of argumentation

And to be clear, my point is just simply that I can see why some people would be okay with Bayonetta but not Eve, currently. I don't agree with the sexualization part though, to which I'd ask do you disagree that Bayonetta is portrayed in a powerful way? I personally think so.

Why are you suddenly double-checking a universal truth about Bayonetta with @Eapoe, again?

[deenman]

That "controversy" does not exist off the internet. Terminally online "activists" are a microscopically small portion of the gaming audience. Look at Hogwarts Legacy for proof. For months before its release that game was subject to "controversies" and calls for "boycotts", yet when it was released it became the highest selling game of the year, even beating out Call of Duty's yearly release. Shows just how much power and influence those people really have.

The vast majority of the people who will buy this game either think the "controversy" is a good thing or haven't even heard of it.

And the sooner IGN shuts down, the better.

i mean the controversy was likely a marketing ploy,no1 even cares about harry potter besides the fanbase,this entire thing got the game way more traction online,personaly i dont care if jk eats babies,if the game is good ill get it and enjoy it

people need to remember that a LOT of the shit in their house was made by literal slaves,but jk being mean to trans people is a step to far?who buys this?

[Jester Joe]

How convenient that the DMC comparison is suddenly a joke when you're addressing my post (and @unfilteredJW's commentary on the exchange here), yet 3 pages later you're somehow using the same goddamn argument about it to "disprove" @Orange Joe. I guess the argument identifies as joke-fluid ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But sure, I'm the one rambling here.

Y'all have some really online way of arguing.

"You said it was a joke here, BUT YOU MENTIONED IT AFTER SOMEONE ELSE SAID IT, SO YOU MUST HAVE BEEN SERIOUS!". Or you know, it was addressing someone else talking about it again.

Its like OJs "wow you keep mentioning Bayonetta a lot!" after he keeps quoting me and asking about her.

Not you, with such stellar arguments (to follow up on this reply to Orange Joe there) like "everyone who's played Bayonetta agrees with my premise so I don't have to prove it because burden of proof hanged itself just now". Which is fallacious to the max to begin with, but is even funnier when it's already been argued by others in this very thread that Bayonetta was not seen as some kind a feminist icon outside of LGBT circles and that feminists per se complained about her. They must have overdosed on empowerment, I guess.

"And I declare a direct attack on the argument and don't actually debunk the point!".

Why are you suddenly double-checking a universal truth about Bayonetta with @Eapoe, again?

Because apparently some of you guys don't bother to actually read to realize what's being discussed.

I'm not responding to this anymore honestly. It's just the typical Internet users arguing for the sake of arguing just because they enjoy some weird "superiority" by going "aha I've won". And I don't care enough about that, Im just dumb enough to keep checking notifications. This all started because someone didn't want to acknowledge it's not hypocritical to like Bayonetta and dislike eve, and that's not even what you're arguing, you're just arguing about quotes that are posted.

[unfilteredJW]

Y'all have some really online way of arguing.

"You said it was a joke here, BUT YOU MENTIONED IT AFTER SOMEONE ELSE SAID IT, SO YOU MUST HAVE BEEN SERIOUS!". Or you know, it was addressing someone else talking about it again.

Its like OJs "wow you keep mentioning Bayonetta a lot!" after he keeps quoting me and asking about her.



"And I declare a direct attack on the argument and don't actually debunk the point!".




Because apparently some of you guys don't bother to actually read to realize what's being discussed.

I'm not responding to this anymore honestly. It's just the typical Internet users arguing for the sake of arguing just because they enjoy some weird "superiority" by going "aha I've won". And I don't care enough about that, Im just dumb enough to keep checking notifications. This all started because someone didn't want to acknowledge it's not hypocritical to like Bayonetta and dislike eve, and that's not even what you're arguing, you're just arguing about quotes that are posted.

@Mehrunes this is the final stage of discussing with Joe and why it's a complete waste of time.

"You argue like it's online" is fucking bananas complaint and always will be. Learn to take an L.

[Mojo03]

That "controversy" does not exist off the internet. Terminally online "activists" are a microscopically small portion of the gaming audience. Look at Hogwarts Legacy for proof. For months before its release that game was subject to "controversies" and calls for "boycotts", yet when it was released it became the highest selling game of the year, even beating out Call of Duty's yearly release. Shows just how much power and influence those people really have.

The vast majority of the people who will buy this game either think the "controversy" is a good thing or haven't even heard of it.

And the sooner IGN shuts down, the better.

Unfortunately, these types of "terminally online" people make up quite of a bit of the visible presence in the gaming world.

Gaming publications seem to be either those types of people or cater to those types of people.

It's not just IGN, it's all of them.

The political polarization and insane partisanship in the world where everyone adapts a list of beliefs and strictly adheres to them depending on which team they're on, has unfortunately bled into everything, including gaming for the past few years.

[SilverLion]

@Mehrunes this is the final stage of discussing with Joe and why it's a complete waste of time.

"You argue like it's online" is fucking bananas complaint and always will be. Learn to take an L.

This entire thread is an L. So I guess congrats for contributing to it? None of yall have done a lick of professional art in your life and it shows.

Unfortunately, these types of "terminally online" people make up quite of a bit of the visible presence in the gaming world.

Gaming publications seem to be either those types of people or cater to those types of people.

It's not just IGN, it's all of them.

The political polarization and insane partisanship in the world where everyone adapts a list of beliefs and strictly adheres to them depending on which team they're on, has unfortunately bled into everything, including gaming for the past few years

By terminally online you mean 4chan. Because lest we forget, fighting about video games online really started in the mid 2ks when a bunch of 4channers got mad that people other than them existed and started harassing folks. Let's not pretend this is some sort of new age thing.

[Orange Joe]

Y'all have some really online way of arguing.

"You said it was a joke here, BUT YOU MENTIONED IT AFTER SOMEONE ELSE SAID IT, SO YOU MUST HAVE BEEN SERIOUS!". Or you know, it was addressing someone else talking about it again.

Its like OJs "wow you keep mentioning Bayonetta a lot!" after he keeps quoting me and asking about her.



"And I declare a direct attack on the argument and don't actually debunk the point!".




Because apparently some of you guys don't bother to actually read to realize what's being discussed.

I'm not responding to this anymore honestly. It's just the typical Internet users arguing for the sake of arguing just because they enjoy some weird "superiority" by going "aha I've won". And I don't care enough about that, Im just dumb enough to keep checking notifications. This all started because someone didn't want to acknowledge it's not hypocritical to like Bayonetta and dislike eve, and that's not even what you're arguing, you're just arguing about quotes that are posted.

You really lack any self awareness don't you?

[unfilteredJW]

This entire thread is an L. So I guess congrats for contributing to it? None of yall have done a lick of professional art in your life and it shows.

You should work on your reading comprehension if you are directing this at me.

Following along with a conversation is a basic skill and one you should have before engaging them here.

[Edge-]

This latest discussion thread is going in circles/nowhere. Please drop it or take it to PM's. If folks have other things to discuss related to the topic of this thread they're welcome to, and if not that's totally fine too. And please, stay fluffy. There's no need to be rude to other folks. Thanks.

[Mojo03]

By terminally online you mean 4chan. Because lest we forget, fighting about video games online really started in the mid 2ks when a bunch of 4channers got mad that people other than them existed and started harassing folks. Let's not pretend this is some sort of new age thing.

4chan certainly has a lot of terminally online people on it.

Let's not pretend you're actually that naive that you think they only hang out there.

People have been fighting about everything since the dawn of time.

Let's not pretend it started in mid 2k 4 chan in the video game world just because it's the first time you became aware of it.

My point was more that people are far more polarized now days with their beliefs and it's become far more taboo to have beliefs outside of a prescribed doctrine your political team ascribes and it's bled into everything, including gaming.

This largely is a sub-topic of that.

[Zython]

i mean the controversy was likely a marketing ploy,no1 even cares about harry potter besides the fanbase,this entire thing got the game way more traction online,personaly i dont care if jk eats babies,if the game is good ill get it and enjoy it

people need to remember that a LOT of the shit in their house was made by literal slaves,but jk being mean to trans people is a step to far?who buys this?

Question. Would you buy a Ruroni Kenshin game with the full knowledge of what your money helps fund?

[deenman]

Question. Would you buy a Ruroni Kenshin game with the full knowledge of what your money helps fund?

was the part about eating babies not clear enough?

[Zython]

was the part about eating babies not clear enough?

Well, I guess all I can say is that I appreciate you confirming that fans of the game support CSAM.

[deenman]

Well, I guess all I can say is that I appreciate you confirming that fans of the game support CSAM.

hahahahaha,yes and by that logic you support slavery

[Auxis]

I think it's fine, as long as the game isn't taking itself seriously. Look at Bayonetta - skin-tight bodysuit (actually her hair so does that count as clothing or is she nekkid?), obviously sexualized but it is so campy, punny, and over-the-top that it sorta cancels itself out.

I also get the same feeling from Dead or Alive, with the.. swimsuit minigame things. It's SO ridiculous that it doesn't come across as sexualized IMO.

Question is - I know nothing about Stellar Blade - is the game camp/over-the-top, or is it dead serious with a woman running around in a skin-tight suit with every capable bit of her jiggling?

[Orby]

Okay so since I kind of left a lot of social platforms and inserted myself into a bubble that caters to myself (it was a long and daunting process) I only just now realised that there is controversy over this game...and all I gotta say is 'really'... once again I really should stop being surprised. I thought this whole topic was about the general discussion I didn't realise there was this big 'drama' over this game lol

also a great video you should all check out.