Video game outlets IGN and Kotaku have been accused of coordinating a censorship campaign against Stellar Blade by accusing the game of racism for in-game graffiti that was positioned next to an in-game sign.
Eve in Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
X user Lyde15 posited that IGN coordinated with YouTuber Lance McDonald to pressure Sony with accusations of racism. He first shared a screenshot of McDonald’s post on X noting it was shared at 3:00 PM.
Lyde15 on X
READ: Sony Replaces The Word “Hard” With “Crime” In ‘Stellar Blade’ After Being Accused Of Racism
Next, he noted that IGN published their article about the graffiti as well as Sony’s response at the exact same time that McDonald’s post went up. He wrote, “IGN article. 3:00pm. Yeah, this was planned.”
He then noted that Kotaku published their article 25 minutes after both IGN’s article and McDonald’s post on X, “Kotaku was 25 minutes after the original tweet.”
Lyde15 on X
Lyde15 then asserted, “So the original outrage bait was posted at 3pm and IGN already had reached out for comment to Sony and gotten a response? Yeah, these f***ers are colluding.”
Lyde15 on X
Later in his thread, he shared a screenshot of The Washington Post’s video game reporter Gene Park commenting on the Hard graffiti and how it’s located throughout the game. Park wrote, “here is the ‘hard’ tagging appearing in the first level. stellar blade has repeating textures everywhere, that steakhouse logo to the right appears in 3 different shops in this small tunnel alone.”
Lyde15 commented on this writing, “Yah. This is basically an example of people looking for something, anything they could use to cause controversy at time of release.”
Lyde15 on X
Lyde15 was not alone in speculating that the accusations of racism against Stellar Blade were coordinated. Former World of Warcraft Team Lead Mark Kern asserted as much as well. In a now-deleted post, Kern revealed McDonald denied sharing the graffiti with any journalists. McDonald told Kern, “Hey I saw you tweeted a bunch about my stellar blade screenshot, a bunch of people noticed that funny graffiti like a week or two ago and we were all laughing about it. Cause it’s pretty funny and clearly just a dumb accident. If any journalists reached out to Sony about it, I don’t know them. I only talk to content creators mostly and other Australians (no one takes us seriously).”
McDonald added, “I saw it few weeks ago and was excited to show it to people once the embargo dropped, which I did when it did. Though I’d mentioned its existence to some friends who also had the game early.”
At the time of this posting, Kern wrote, “I think I have no reason not to believe Lance. I do also think the coordinated timing of similar articles by IGN, Kotaku and other game journalist outlets is too co-incidental to be an accident.”
“It may be than Lance’s screenshot that he shared with other ‘friends who also had the game’ was discovered independently by IGN and Kotaku simultaneously in their own playthroughs, and they all found it simultaneously offensive, but that part seems far fetched to me,” he added.
Mark Kern on X
He reiterated his suspicions that IGN and Kotaku coordinated in a subsequent post in response to Lyde15’s original thread, “Stellar Blade ‘Hard R’ controversy was MANUFACTURED as a coordinated attack? IGN and Kotaku respond ready with articles, including Sony official responses exactly the moment the screen shot was posted by YouTuber Lance McDonald. Impossible for news to get comment and response from Sony in such short time. This had to have been collusion designed to be posted instant embargo lifted to create fake news and controversy.”
Stellar Blade “Hard R” controversy was MANUFACTURED as a coordinated attack? @IGN and @Kotaku respond ready with articles , including Sony official responses exactly the moment the screen shot was posted by YouTuber @manfightdragon.
Impossible for news to get comment and… https://t.co/leNEarvKSb pic.twitter.com/S1Z0jlw4QM
— Grummz (@Grummz) April 25, 2024
What do you make of these accusations that IGN, Kotaku, and McDonald possibly coordinated to attack Stellar Blade with racism accusations?
IGN and Kotaku focused more on virtue signaling and political messaging than impartial game reviews. Both untrusted, sinking ships.
how is “HARD R” racist?
How is the “Hard R” the N-Word? This is absolutely collusion. This is also a completely disingenuous argument from Kotaku with a rage bait headline. There was no “N-Word” in there. I knew they were gonna smear the game, but this is beyond the pale.
Listen. And understand. That
TerminatorCommunist is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.