IGN issued an official apology to Stellar Blade developer Shift Up Corporation for IGN France publishing a preview on the game describing the game’s protagonist Eve as “a doll sexualized by someone you would think has never seen a woman.”
Eve in Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
IGN France initially published their Stellar Blade preview on March 27th by Ben Ossola and criticized the design of the game’s protagonist Eve writing, “The design of the game, particularly its characters, highlights an obvious bias. We’re going to smash the alien, but if we can do it while pleasing these gentlemen, that’s a bonus. And the result is not really a success. It’s not new, and other games have chosen to highlight the strengths of their female characters, but where a Bayonetta stands out with an iconic character design, or a 2B from Nier Automata inspires an entire generation of cosplayers, Eve from Stellar Blade is just bland. A doll sexualized by someone you would think has never seen a woman.”
The outlet would then issue an edit that reads, “This last sentence has been slightly edited for French speaking people pretending not to understand what we meant, and the English speaking mob who google translated the initial text.”
Eve in Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
Now, IGN has issued a formal apology that is listed atop the game’s preview article, and the article has removed Ossola’s name crediting to Team IGN France.
It states, “Recently, IGN France produced and published a preview of Stellar Blade containing an offensive passage that should never have been kept. The text has now been edited and here is our official apology to the Shift Up Corporation studio staff.”
“Also, please note that IGN France is an independent branch of IGN and that IGN’s editorial staff had nothing to do with this incident,” it continues.
A screenshot of Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
Next, it reads, “The original text of the Stellar Blade preview contained comments that were out of place. While it was never our intention to disrespect Shift Up or any of its employees or their work, we recognize that the phrase taken in its literal sense was inappropriate and we regret it.”
“To anyone at Shift Up Corporation who felt personally targeted and insulted by this passage, we are truly sorry and sincerely apologize,” IGN concludes.
A screenshot of IGN France’s Stellar Blade preview article
IGN France’s complaints never held water. Stellar Blade Game Director Hyung-Tae Kim informed Push Square that Eve was based on model Shin Jae-eun.
He told the outlet, “Yes, we did base the character of Eve on the model Shin Jae-eun. We thought that her body shape would be a good reference for the character that we were pursuing. But the face was created originally in-house – it’s just the body of the model that we scanned for the game.”
Kim went on to explain why Shift Up chose Jae-eun, “Of course it depends on how you define beautiful bodies, but for us we wanted to come up with the most attractive looking body for the user, so this is why we made the decision to work with her.”
On top of the character being a scan of model Shin Jae-eun, Kim is also married to Shift Up Corporation’s concept artist Jiyun Chae.
Eve in Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
What do you make of IGN’s apology?
By the sounds of it they got a call from IGN central because this was going viral. That or Sony realised that this is the only game this year that’s going to make them money. Either way it’s a nice humiliation for the clowns at IGN.
Like Rotten Tomatoes, there was a time when I trusted IGN’s reviews.
John, the IGN article originally said that the character had been drawn by someone who had never seen a woman. Definitive, no equivocation. The “oh you are deliberately misunderstanding what I meant or translating poorly” response was to change it TO the words “by someone you would think has never seen a woman,” as if that fixed it. So this is now the third version.
An overthinking, underpaid,desperately-lonely white liberal insults the hardwork and cultural artistry of another race? Color me not surprised.
EDIT: grammar
Ben Ossola, the epitome of ignorance and stupidity, is a prime example of why IGN fails at everything they do. Your inability to grasp even the most fundamental aspects of your job as a so-called “journalist” has led you and your fellow manchild buffoons to embarrass yourselves time and time again. Your obsession with trivial matters and lack of professionalism only serve to further tarnish the already disgraceful reputation of IGN. It’s high time you realize that your presence in the industry is nothing more than a laughing stock, and you should be ashamed of your incompetence. Perhaps it’s best if you and your fellow doofuses find a new line of work before you cause any more damage to your already pathetic careers.
Ben Ossola, you ugly ass doofus, I hope you read this and truly understand how pathetic your life must be. Your inability to connect with women is a clear indication that you’re a failure both personally and professionally. Your articles about your own insecurities only highlight your lack of purpose and talent, and it’s no wonder you can’t get laid. You’re nothing more than a bum, a pathetic excuse of a human being who should delete yourself from existence to make way for men with actual purpose and ambition. Your presence in this world only serves to bring others down, and it’s high time you realize that you have no place in society.