Shift Up Responds to Stellar Blade Censorship

Video Games

As gamers react to the censored version of Stellar Blade, Shift Up CEO Kim Hyeong-tae and technical director Lee Dong-gi answered some questions about their game’s release, and inevitably, the costume change came up. Kim Hyeong-tae explained it like this (translation via packergirl, and I’m grateful because Google Translate is not quite clear):

Kyunghyang Games reports that during a pre Stellar Blade launch press conference, Shift Up CEO Kim Hyeong-tae addressed the games censorship pic.twitter.com/hbDc6hlTaB

— packergirl (@p9cker_girl) April 27, 2024

This makes it seem like Shift Up knew what they were doing, which is disappointing and makes the entire Stellar Blade marketing push look like a bait and switch. And make no mistake: Stellar Blade was sold on the idea of being an uncensored experience, with the revealing outfits for Eve front and center:

「Stellar Blade」 offers the same uncensored version in all countries, including the Japanese version.
ステラブレードは、日本版を含むすべての国で検閲されていない同じバージョンを提供しています。#StellarBlade #PS5 #Uncensored pic.twitter.com/dJojSgZH9y

— StellarBlade (@StellarBlade) April 21, 2024

It’s also important to remember that Eve’s clothing is not the only thing being censored:

They censored gore efforts as well pic.twitter.com/pgpsKnBPUA

— Artur Magomedov (@ArturMagom58186) April 26, 2024

Now, as Mark Kern, alias Grummz, points out, this doesn’t mean that Sony didn’t force the changes, as Shift Up may be legally barred from saying so publicly. But even if they did, this is not a good way for Shift Up to run damage control, essentially putting the onus on the customer to deal with it, albeit in a somewhat more diplomatic way than Western companies would nowadays:

I do understand NDAs and the law.

There is not blaming Sony, then there is stepping in front of the bus.@Stellarblade gave multiple interviews yesterday that gave them no wiggle room. Let's see what they say Monday after they come back to all the social media reports over the… https://t.co/m5RsPIpAh0

— Grummz (@Grummz) April 27, 2024

This is a wild situation, and I’m not going to pretend I have any idea how it’ll shake out. But heralding a game as being free of censorship and then releasing a censored version is blatant false advertising, and it would behoove Shift Up and Sony to do everything they can to fix this before there are long-term consequences to their brands, especially the fledgling Shift Up, as Stellar Blade is their first game. (And if the changes really are being forced on them, the people at Shift Up must hate Sony right now.) Grummz points out that the developers did say they’re open to adjusting the game based on fan feedback in the interview; perhaps that was a signal to disappointed customers that they want to fix this:

Stellar Blade director again reiterates the changes were intentional. This was posted yesterday during his many launch day interviews.

In the same interview, he also talks about how they will be responsive with new content in the future according to what players want. (I ran it… https://t.co/k3UymYtPvk

— Grummz (@Grummz) April 27, 2024

In the meantime, Kern’s petition to change Stellar Blade back has 24,561 signatures and counting, so if you’d like to add your name, you can do so here. Also keep in mind that this is only one part of his eight-step plan to “free Stellar Blade.”

The plan hasn't changed in light of the interviews given yesterday.

– Sign the Petition
– Cancel Sony PSN
– Contact Shift Up politely

They will see all this Monday. Pressure is still on Sony because Sony still has to approve, but it's also on Shift Up and @StellarBlade.

— Grummz (@Grummz) April 27, 2024