'Skullgirls' Updates Remove Some Of The Game's Edgier Elements, Sparking Controversy In The Fandom

Indie fighting game Skullgirls, an internet darling with a dedicated fandom, has returned to headlines after developers Hidden Variable, Future Club and Autumn Games released a design update that altered some of the video game's perceivably problematic elements in order to "reflect the values and broad vision for Skullgirls moving forward."

The announcement was made in the game's forums by director Charley Price, aka Mighty Zug.

Among notable changes, the Skullgirls development team has removed controversial imagery from Renoir family and the Black Egrets and de-emphasized the sexualization of some characters, particularly younger characters, citing the opening of Filia's story mode as a place where they de-emphasized its sexual nature.

The change led to a flood of review bombing of the game on Steam, as the game's "Very Positive" review rating is now tempered by a "Mostly Negative" rating for reviews submitted in the past 30 days. Many of the negative reviews complain about "censorship" and devs catering to woke Twitter fans by making the changes, and have little to do with the gameplay (Price made no reference to fan complaints in his explanation of the changes).

Skullgirls discourse is heatedly raging on social media, as some deride the changes while others think that those complaining aren't actually invested in the game but rather the culture war currently surrounding it. Some posters suggested that people complaining haven't actually spent time playing the game or are overreacting to what amounts mostly to minor design tweaks.

Others have expressed ethical concerns about the removal of some suggestive images from the game's digital art book, which was paid, extra content. In sum, the changes make it so players no longer have access to the artwork they paid for.

Time will tell if this is a momentary controversy surrounding Skullgirls or if it will snowball into something bigger. For the time being, it seems many of the game's dedicated fans are unbothered by the design tweaks — browsing the game's recent reviews, those leaving positive reviews tend to have logged hundreds of hours into the game, while those leaving negative reviews also have single or double-digit hours logged.