I never played Skullgirls but I saw the controversy on the internets. Skullgirls is a 2D fighting game first released back in 2012 for PC and all of the major consoles and grew out of successful crowdfunding campaigns when it first launched before transitioning to more traditional publishers. In 2020, the game developer was hit by significant staff firings, resignations and lots of restructuring in the wake of it all.
What was of interest to me though, was the censorship that was recently applied.
One June 26th the Game Devs released what they called a "Content and Revisions Patch." This included:
What stood out to me was that the game was obviously modified, but so was apparently the digital artbook that consumers paid for. Those digital artbooks had pieces of art modified, or completely removed by this patch, helping reinforce unless you own the physical media, you don't actually own anything in this particular case.
Skullgirls is currently being review bombed on Steam and suffering the ire of a Social Media Outrage "Mob" over this censorship while mainstream gaming publications (such as the PC Gamer hyperlink above) are trying to downplay the censorship of owned digital product.
Them comments under the Skullgirls announcement...
What was of interest to me though, was the censorship that was recently applied.
One June 26th the Game Devs released what they called a "Content and Revisions Patch." This included:
- "Allusions to real-world hate groups" seen in the dress and iconography of Skullgirls' Black Egret army, particularly its Nazi-like red armbands
- Instances in which characters "are fetishized and/or have sexualization imposed upon them," with particular attention toward younger characters
- Some content "believed to be in poor taste" with regard to race
What stood out to me was that the game was obviously modified, but so was apparently the digital artbook that consumers paid for. Those digital artbooks had pieces of art modified, or completely removed by this patch, helping reinforce unless you own the physical media, you don't actually own anything in this particular case.
Skullgirls is currently being review bombed on Steam and suffering the ire of a Social Media Outrage "Mob" over this censorship while mainstream gaming publications (such as the PC Gamer hyperlink above) are trying to downplay the censorship of owned digital product.
Them comments under the Skullgirls announcement...