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Stellar Blade Developer Shift Up addresses censorship claims "This is our final product. We are discussing this internally"

FIREKNIGHT2029

FIREKNIGHT2029

Member
Makes you wonder why they said they were releasing the game “uncensored” if they were gonna pull some bullshit like this. They literally lied.

Honestly though, I’m not really bothered by this maybe it’s because I’ll be getting the eventual PC version where I’ll be able to dress Eve in any outfit I can imagine. Also, the outfits that are in the digital version do the game that I own are still very sexy,

Sony and Shift Up have fucked up though, this is bad for their PR especially when they said they wouldn’t censor.


I’m still very happy with the game and it’s up there with FF7 and Helldivers 2 as my personal GOTY contender.
 
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Dr. Claus

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Three said:
Cassidy is at least 18 possibly even 21 (their ages are never directly given) and there was some controversy that Finn could be 17 so that could make her a pedophile but the actual "sex scene" wasn't controversial. It's mild at best, and can barely be called sexually explicit.


But I already gave an example where Conan has been censored on consoles (a western game) and you just ignored it and concentrated on the same edge case Japanese game about fondling questionably aged girls in school uniforms in the gym. It has nothing to do with it being Japanese and more to do with it being a far more risqué game in nature. You can try and frame that as some kind of racism towards particular devs but it isn't.
Click to expand...

If you want to create strawman arguments, purposefully try and frame things to be as disingenuous as possible, and refusing to see reality even when developers themselves state it to be the case then be my guest. All this shows is that you are living deep in denial, bud.
 
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thicc_girls_are_teh_best

thicc_girls_are_teh_best

Member
FIREKNIGHT2029 said:
Makes you wonder why they said they were releasing the game “uncensored” if they were gonna pull some bullshit like this. They literally lied.

Honestly though, I’m not really bothered by this maybe it’s because I’ll be getting the eventual PC version where I’ll be able to dress Eve in any outfit I can imagine. Also, the outfits that are in the digital version do the game that I own are still very sexy,

Sony and Shift Up have fucked up though, this is bad for their PR especially when they said they wouldn’t censor.


I’m still very happy with the game and it’s up there with FF7 and Helldivers 2 as my personal GOTY contender.
Click to expand...

Did anyone stop to think that when they said the game was uncensored, they were referring to the version with the update? And not the demo or the version reviewers who got it early might've played?

I mean, if so, they probably should've clarified that in the tweet when they said it was uncensored. Just trying to apply some critical thinking here, instead of assuming the worst-case :/

DaGwaphics said:
Yikes, I didn't finish reading the thread before I posted. I haven't been following this game so I thought that was the only outfit.
Click to expand...

Seems like it was a couple more changed. But, again, there are even more risque outfits completely unchanged in the final version even after the update.

The way some are going about it, you'd think half the outfits were turned into this:

MA4DLVP.jpeg
 
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dreamcastluvr

dreamcastluvr

Member
Snake29 said:
That's weird, when you make a big deal out of it yourself. You make up a complete story for yourself when there is no evidence at all, and with that you try to justify it to yourself. I'm not sure how am i insecure about this? I've seen some of these outfits and i can't figure out how people can be so upset about this when there are much more in-game which reveal way more?

If Sony wanted to sensorship this, why are other outfits still in the game then?
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Klayzer said:
Seems all the Sony "forced censorship" can't answer.
Click to expand...

Madflavor said:
It's because nobody knows the actual answer. We don't know what exactly Sony deems okay and not okay. But it's important to clarify that the Bunny Suit was not the only outfit that got changed. It was several, at least 5 that we know of so far. Yes there are other revealing outfits, but from what we can tell by their design, they were likely nerfed at some point as well. Shrift Up are a horny fucking studio. You need only look at Nikke, the trailers for Stellar Blade, and a couple interviews from the game director to know this. I'm very doubtful that this was a situation where they decided at the 11th hour that they didn't like some of the outfits and decided to alter them into versions they liked better. The more likely scenario is that close to release Sony reviewed the 1.0 version and felt that some of the outfits went a bit too far and requested Shrift Up tone them down. This would explain the tacked on look of some of the additional bits and layers on some of the outfits due to time constraint.
Click to expand...

Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Warner Brothers, etc handle censorship very much like the MPAA does; they do not demand huge swaths of censorship all at once. They may tell the creators to "tone things down" without completely eliminating all the lewdness/ violence. A producer may be told to reduce the amount of F-words in their movie down to three or four instances instead of six or seven and maybe show only 3/4 of a buttcrack instead of the entire buttcrack in order to get a PG-13 instead of an R rating. Maybe a stab is okay as long as the camera quickly cuts away from the blood. Same with game studios. They'll be gently nudged to maybe reduce some cleavage here and there, maybe add leggings under a short skirt or make the skirt itself 5% longer. That's how censorship usually works. A little here, a little there... a compromise to try to please both sides, as it were. So Shift Up made a few alterations here and there after a gentle tap on the shoulder from Sony. And they are certainly not going to bite the hand that feeds them and throw $ony under the bus. So of course, they will say it was an internal decision, and these were always the "intended" designs.
 
Klosshufvud

Klosshufvud

Member
The devs trying really hard to have their cake and eat it too. Kinda pathetic, especially when bragging about how the game was uncensored worldwide too. Just admit that Sony caught up on your designs and is demanding changes as not to piss off the audience they've spent years abiding too. Especially with that low IQ monkey Hermann Hulst in charge at Sony, there is simply no room for games like Stellar Blade.
 
Fabieter

Fabieter

Member
Angry_Megalodon said:
this drama is even more pathetic than HARD R.

They have different versions of each outfit and they chose what they thought was better aesthetically. That has nothing to do with censorship.

I would take the bait if the bunny suit were the only sexy one in the game but we have the skinsuit (the most lewd outfit in AAA gaming right now) and a huge variety of bikinis and skimpy dresses. This is a non-issue. And by blowing this out of proportion people are disrespecting one of the few devs that are all in for players, not for the media or corporate greed. That enrages me.

I'm starting to think that we deserve the poor state of our entertainment if this dumb overreaction is the best we can do.
Click to expand...

This soo much! Gamers are the worst and the very reason we have to deal with so much shit in gaming.
 
C

CityHunter1981

Member
Next update, they will reduce the cuteness, so it’s more representative of the average woman…

It would be better if they are clearly coming out saying, sorry but we needed to do some small adjustments to meet the local regulations.
Saying that this is not censorship and it’s the costume they wanted to have is just a lie and stupid.

They really think we would believe that they just spontaneously thought right after the discs have been pressed to change the outfit? If it wouldn’t be censorship, why not have both versions in the game and let the player decide…
 
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Fabieter

Fabieter

Member
We had people on gaf and twitter saying this game is just a sex bait for years and it doesn't need this kind much skin in it. So yea the outfit change shows the internet is a rage mob simetimes.

For the gore stuff i dont even understand why they changed it it still has the same kinda blood in it, they just delete a detailed which doesnt make any sense.
 
midnightAI

midnightAI

Member
Dr. Claus said:
Because a certain subset of mentally ill retards are the ones calling the shots and they have a massive grudge against Asian games. Take a look at all the games that are censored, games like Senran Kagura, Stellar Blade, Devil May Cry, Omega Labyrinth Life - what do they all have in common? They are Japanese/Korean titles that celebrate traditional feminine beauty standards. Not perverted bear fuckers. Not man-faced steroid junkies. Sony is hypocritical in their actions because the people they employ to push this censorship are hypocritical retards. It isn't complicated.
Click to expand...
We do not know any of this is Sony's decision, it could be, but for now we don't know that or the reasoning behind it.

(It's likely done to satisfy the ratings across all the different regions with a single version of the game (which vastly simplifies updates/testing going forward). The internal talk 'may' be with Sony to discuss what to do going forward with likely discussions about regional updates to allow the original outfits rather than being a single release)
 
S

SidViscous

Member
rofif said:
there are more revealing outfits so it’s strange they censored just that one. I’ve not seen other compelling examples of censored suits.
Anyway. The 1.0 physical version exists.
Click to expand...

The censored outfit had cameltoe, which is what folks are missing. Updated version does not. So it’s likely they noticed and panicked and asked them to remove it in the patch alongside the hard r
 
midnightAI

midnightAI

Member
SidViscous said:
The censored outfit had cameltoe, which is what folks are missing. Updated version does not. So it’s likely they noticed and panicked and asked them to remove it in the patch alongside the hard r
Click to expand...
People are missing cameltoe?, there are other websites to get that fix you know (I know what you meant)

And here is the thing, I find it highly unlikely that this game went through QA at Sony without anyone spotting that the outfits are lewd and only realised one week prior to release and then panicked. This game has had loads of media attention due to the outfits, outrage by certain groups, memes, twitter, YouTube etc. there is no way they didnt know about the content of this game.
 
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Angry_Megalodon

Angry_Megalodon

Member
Dr. Claus said:
What is more baffling is the people claiming there is no censorship, despite having literal evidence pointing to it. Can't tell if they are just trolling or truly that thick headed.
Click to expand...


Devs design a lot of different versions of each costume and decide for aesthetic reasons which one they like best. This is not censorship. It's called creative freedom. People telling Shift Up which costumes should be in the game are the actual censors.

Before the game was released the doomposting and concern trolling revolved around the skinsuit, the most lewd outfit in modern gaming right now. If Sony wanted to censor something, the skinsuit would not exist. They have been CO-DEVELOPING the game for three years and you tell me they realized 24 hours before launch, after all the media outrage for the last 2 months? It doesn't make any sense.

Below is an example of what I'm saying, in their first mobile game, all those unlockable. Are they "censoring" here?

3up9yQN.jpeg
 
S

systemr123

Member
Angry_Megalodon said:
Devs design a lot of different versions of each costume and decide for aesthetic reasons which one they like best. This is not censorship. It's called creative freedom. People telling Shift Up which costumes should be in the game are the actual censors.

Before the game was released the doomposting and concern trolling revolved around the skinsuit, the most lewd outfit in modern gaming right now. If Sony wanted to censor something, the skinsuit would not exist. They have been CO-DEVELOPING the game for three years and you tell me they realized 24 hours before launch, after all the media outrage for the last 2 months? It doesn't make any sense.

Below is an example of what I'm saying, in their first mobile game, all those unlockable. Are they "censoring" here?

3up9yQN.jpeg
Click to expand...
It’s censoring when they remove one option and replace it with another. Your example is flawed because it gives you options, the suits in stellar blade are altered and remove the old option.

In stellar blades cause though I’m not sure it’s censoring even though the alterations are horribly unstylish, because there’s still much more revealing outfits available. But probably it’s censoring because no one would on purpose create hideous outfits except for DEI invaded companies
 
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Angry_Megalodon

Angry_Megalodon

Member
systemr123 said:
It’s censoring when they remove one option and replace it with another. Your example is flawed because it gives you options, the suits in stellar blade are altered and remove the old option.
Click to expand...


Still, this argument is missing the creator's intentions. I need stronger evidence, other than an image of an old build, that after the shitstorm SU and Sony went through to get the game released suddenly they changed their minds on a couple of random outfits nobody cared about.

Can you imagine Shuhei Yoshida (the guy who greenlit the project) calling Kim "Yo, Kim, that bunny shows too much flesh, tweak it just a bit. Remove the cleavage, give Twitter warriors some ammo".

After getting insulted by the media and woke circlejerks now they are receiving the same treatment from grifters. Photo Mode or collabs might not be added anytime soon thanks to this dumb controversy. I wouldn't do it.
 
Gexxy1

Gexxy1

Member
Angry_Megalodon said:
Still, this argument is missing the creator's intentions. I need stronger evidence, other than an image of an old build, that after the shitstorm SU and Sony went through to get the game released suddenly they changed their minds on a couple of random outfits nobody cared about.
Click to expand...
You don't find it quite the coincidence that the "updated" versions add more clothing while none of them have less? And that the ones that add clothing add it in specific areas that are typical to censoring? Or that none of these newer versions were updated in late trailers?

This reminds me of Tifa in Remake/Rebirth. In Rebirth she has a jiggly swimsuit, but they retroactively added a bra to her design in the flashback. I know Tifa in Remake also got a lot of criticism (initially) for adding leggings and a sports bra to her design, which Nomura said was a result from Square's ethics department.

Seems swimsuits are usually fine, but what sets them off are open boob windows, and the pants/shorts not covering enough of the leg leading to the crotch. That would explain the specific changes here. The bunny outfit before had the valley of the chest open, now they added a bra. That red string outfit also added a bra. The Chinese outfit added leggings. There is a common denominator here.
 
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DoktorCoktor

DoktorCoktor

Member
ahtlas7 said:
If people enjoy the original versions of the costumes why not include them as alternates. More content = win.
Click to expand...
Which will require them to undo the alterations that were made. That would completely defeat the purpose of making sure they're not present in the first place though, so I doubt they would just add the original intent back in.
 
D

Darak

Member
I have a physical copy I was already playing patched, knowing nothing about all this. For science, I went ahead and uninstalled the game then installed it from disk, reverting the version back to 1.0 ^^
  • The savegame is backwards compatible (I didn't lose progress or anything when going back to unpatched). Obviously I wouldn't risk doing that in Game+ or with new costumes in the inventory.
  • The bunny suit is certainly more revealing in the disk version compared to the patch
  • I noticed no difference in the Moutan suit, someone showed a version with more skin but it doesn't look like that in my game.
  • I noticed no change in gore yet. It's either very subtle or something that happens only while fighting bosses, perhaps.
The change does not look at all like a polish issue to me. In fact, the new version looks more unpolished, with the original seam still visible in the model over the new cut. It's still a minor change and a lot of drama about nothing, but then again, it's the developer himself who bragged about the 'uncensored' nature of the game, so...
 
Senhua

Senhua

Member
Gexxy1 said:
You don't find it quite the coincidence that the "updated" versions add more clothing while none of them have less? And that the ones that add clothing add it in specific areas that are typical to censoring? Or that none of these newer versions were updated in late trailers?

This reminds me of Tifa in Remake/Rebirth. In Rebirth she has a jiggly swimsuit, but they retroactively added a bra to her design in the flashback. I know Tifa in Remake also got a lot of criticism (initially) for adding leggings and a sports bra to her design, which Nomura said was a result from Square's ethics department.

Seems swimsuits are usually fine, but what sets them off are open boob windows, and the pants/shorts not covering enough of the leg leading to the crotch. That would explain the specific changes here. The bunny outfit before had the valley of the chest open, now they added a bra. That red string outfit also added a bra. The Chinese outfit added leggings. There is a common denominator here.
Click to expand...
dreamcastluvr said:
Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Warner Brothers, etc handle censorship very much like the MPAA does; they do not demand huge swaths of censorship all at once. They may tell the creators to "tone things down" without completely eliminating all the lewdness/ violence. A producer may be told to reduce the amount of F-words in their movie down to three or four instances instead of six or seven and maybe show only 3/4 of a buttcrack instead of the entire buttcrack in order to get a PG-13 instead of an R rating. Maybe a stab is okay as long as the camera quickly cuts away from the blood. Same with game studios. They'll be gently nudged to maybe reduce some cleavage here and there, maybe add leggings under a short skirt or make the skirt itself 5% longer. That's how censorship usually works. A little here, a little there... a compromise to try to please both sides, as it were. So Shift Up made a few alterations here and there after a gentle tap on the shoulder from Sony. And they are certainly not going to bite the hand that feeds them and throw $ony under the bus. So of course, they will say it was an internal decision, and these were always the "intended" designs.
Click to expand...
Both of these are correct. This seems like an attempt at censorship to appease both sides.
/Thread

I've already bought the digital deluxe edition, though. Lesson learned: never preorder Sony-published games ever again, no matter how good and pretty the game has been advertised.
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
skyfall said:
Some people have a principled position on censorship no matter how small, no matter the context, and like to push back on it.

I know having principles is foreign concept to a lot of you sadly
Click to expand...

Its not about principle. It never was because actually principled people look for real solutions going forwards and don't just stoke-up controversy because its good for their brands and their business.

If you look critically, you will notice all that's actually happening is certain outlets are just throwing "meat" to their own captured audiences, and giving zero fucks about the game itself, or the games scene generally.

You can tell its all about ideology because neither side, be it woke or anti-woke, are willing to accept less than total subservience to their world-view. Their victories must be complete, and their opponents must be crushed totally.

No problem is ever a minor one. Everything is an existential crisis.
 
Belthazar

Belthazar

Member
And this whole thing just goes to show that no developer should ever cater to this specific crowd. You people are just so fickle and overreact over the minor things. They redesigned an outfit, while there are plenty others that still show even more skin, who cares?

Everything is censorship nowadays for this crowd.
 
Senhua

Senhua

Member
Clear said:
Its not about principle. It never was because actually principled people look for real solutions going forwards and don't just stoke-up controversy because its good for their brands and their business.

If you look critically, you will notice all that's actually happening is certain outlets are just throwing "meat" to their own captured audiences, and giving zero fucks about the game itself, or the games scene generally.

You can tell its all about ideology because neither side, be it woke or anti-woke, are willing to accept less than total subservience to their world-view. Their victories must be complete, and their opponents must be crushed totally.

No problem is ever a minor one. Everything is an existential crisis.
Click to expand...
Why you guys the "middle one" always like this.
This isn't about 'anti-woke' individuals going berserk; rather, it's about promises of no censorship in all regions being broken, resulting in the final product being more conservatively clothed.
Stop for a moment and take a look at that new, dreadful bunny outfit. Anyone with critical thinking skills can deduce that there's something odd happening behind the scenes leading to that decision.
 
Clear

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Senhua said:
Why you guys the "middle one" always like this.
This isn't about 'anti-woke' individuals going berserk; rather, it's about promises of no censorship in all regions being broken, resulting in the final product being more conservatively clothed.
Stop for a moment and take a look at that new, dreadful bunny outfit. Anyone with critical thinking skills can deduce that there's something odd happening behind the scenes leading to that decision.
Click to expand...

Its only a middle ground position because its extremists that are the ones making all the noise.

When Shift-Up said no censorship they were no doubt talking to major content changes or revisions; for example forcing all blood to be green, whole sequences getting excised, limb removals and decapitations being removed to avoid higher ratings etc. You know, censorship that is/has been imposed in order to release legally in all territories.

Tweaking a couple of costumes and swapping graffiti decals is not significant in the overall context of a game which is trading just as hard on its sexy character lead in both versions!

This was my point about the moral absolutism being a shared trait of both sides. Something that has an equally chilling effect on creativity regardless of which direction its coming from, because bluntly who wants to be dealing with that sort of noise when you've spent years making a game?

The bottom line is really simple; nothing is changing except that instead of one faction of reactionaries playing chicken-little over every issue they can imagine, now we have two! Big win for gaming!
 
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