Stellar Blade Demo Is Out, And IGN Is Angry

The Stellar Blade Demo has been out for a few days now, and thus far, the reviews have been glowing. At least from those who took the time to independently review it. However, certain large outlets have been slow to accept the lead protagonists. Immediately after the announcement of the game, the debate around female sexualization started. In fact, things have devolved since then into what some would call gamer gate 2. While I won’t go quite that far, reactions have certainly been interesting, to say the least.

Of course, everyone has the right to react to the game as they please. However, no matter how you spin this topic, people will be sensitive to it. Many feel that over the last few years, there has been an attempt to make women characters less attractive and have male characters portray more feminine characteristics. It might sound like a conspiracy theory, but it is, in fact, very true. Here is a post from Microsoft where they encourage developers to avoid exaggerated female designs.

The post reads that “various female characters play iconic roles in video games, such as Lara Croft, Bayonetta, and Ada Wong. Therefore, it is safe to say that females are a huge part of the industry, becoming fan favorites throughout the years. However, some can often come with exaggerated designs. This is becoming less common in the industry today, and Microsoft’s Production Inclusion Actions help explain why. On its website, the gaming giant discourages developers from creating such characters. With Sweet Baby Inc becoming highly popular, inclusivity is more important than ever for developers and publishers”

How We Got To The Stellar Blade Demo Madness

When you go to the website Microsoft is referencing, they have a bunch of highlighted questions for you to consider. They include: “Are you unnecessarily introducing gender and gender barriers into your code or design?” In addition, they also ask, “Are you creating playable female characters that are equal in skill and abilities to their male peers?” Are your female characters equipped with clothing and armor that fits their tasks? Do they have exaggerated body proportions? Lastly, they also asked if male characters display a full range of emotions.

I wanted to highlight this because when people say that there is no attempt to drastically change video games, they are wrong. In the above quote, they highlight women’s video game characters and their popularity. They specifically mention Lara Croft, Bayonetta, and Ada Wong. Those women have one big thing in common. They are all extremely attractive. It seems that these companies is going to war with their own fans.

Fans do not want reality when they play games. They are trying to escape it. This brings me to IGN and their take on Stellar Blade. They said in their impressions, “the design of the game, especially its characters, highlights an obvious bias. We’re going to smash aliens, but if we can do it in a way that pleases these gentlemen, that’s a bonus. And the result is not exactly a success.

In’s nothing new, and other games have chosen to highlight the strengths of their female characters, but where a Bayonetta imposes itself with an iconic character design or a 2B from Nier Automata inspires an entire generation of female cosplayers, Eve from Stellar Blade is just Bland. A doll sexualized by someone you think never seen a woman.”

Conclusions

Now overall, I have to say that their article was not that bad. It is just a shame that they had to play into this nonsense. Ultimately, they are entitled to their opinions, and honestly, I expect nothing less. My position on all of this still remains the same. This character is designed for fan service. While fans love realistic graphics, they do not care for much other realism. Fan service will always be part of entertainment. However, it has become profitable for companies like Sweet Baby Inc. to convince publishers and developers that it is problematic.

Unfortunately for publishers, this pivot is not profitable at all. The only question left is how long it is going to take them to realize this?