IGN France Editor-in-Chief Erwan Lafleuriel recently implied that Shift Up Corporation’s design of their main character Eve in Stellar Blade is killing women. He also asserted that gamers have become “too fragile due to being fed the patriarchy.”
Eve in Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
As brought to public attention by former World of Warcraft Team Lead Mark Kern, in a now-deleted comment on IGN France’s Stellar Blade preview, Lafleuriel, who also happens to be the author of Fallout: A Tale of Mutation responded to a comment made by a user who stated, “It’s a shame that women also like this character design. Guys who are afraid of ‘hyper sexualization’ as if it were ‘dirty.’ Long live the neo-puritans.” (Translation via DeepL)
As translated by X user Topek899 and shared to X by Kern, Lafleuriel responded, “Yes, no problem, go tell that to the women who are hit, killed, denigrated, or who commit suicide because they cannot live up to the fictional standards expected by men.”
He continued, “The problem is not the sexy design itself (except that it sucks compared to others, but hey, that doesn’t matter), but the percentage of males who will only want this type of fictional body in reality. Obviously we understand that this does not shock people who think that women are objects who must obey and be beaten. This design makes us sigh and roll our eyes, and we laugh at anyone who needs it, man or woman, but that’s it.”
Lafleuriel concluded, “The certainly clashing remark in the text (which targets the entire creative process not necessarily a specific designer or the game director – this is obvious to anyone who knows a little French), only has this impact because a good portion of gamers have become too fragile due to being fed the patriarchy.”
IGN France @IGNFRA Editor in Chief MELTS DOWN:
Stellar Blade is literally killing women!
Thanks to @topek899 for the translation! pic.twitter.com/83e3FoSZyH
— Grummz (@Grummz) April 4, 2024
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A translation of Lafleuriel’s response via DeepL reads, “Yes, no problem, tell that to the women who get beaten up, denigrated, or who commit suicide because they can’t live up to the fictitious standards expected by men. It’s not the sexy design itself that’s the problem (except for the fact that [it] sucks compared to others, but that’s okay), it’s the percentage of males who will only want this fictional body type in the real world. Of course, it’s understandable that this doesn’t shock people who think women are objects to be obeyed and beaten.”
The translation continues, “For us, this design makes us sigh and roll our eyes, and we don’t care who needs it, man or woman, but that’s all. The text’s admittedly clashing remark (aimed at the entire creation process, not necessarily at a specific designer or game director – this is obvious to anyone who misunderstands a little French), only has this impact because a good proportion of gamers have become too fragile as a result of being bottle-fed patriarchy.”
Eve in Stellar Blade (2024), Shift Up
These comments come in the wake of IGN France’s Ben Ossola criticizing the design of Eve and those who created her. Ossola wrote in an article originally published on March 27th, “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 last line would be edited for clarity with IGN France’s editing staff noting, “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
IGN has since issued an apology that sits atop the original article. It reads, “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.
Eve in 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.
Of note, Ossola’s name has also been removed from the byline. It now lists Team IGN France as the author of the article. IGN has also removed the entire comment section from the article.
A screenshot of IGN France’s Stellar Blade preview article
What do you make of Lafleurial’s comments?
This just proves that the apology was ordered from above. Everybody there is a cringe feminist, meaning they hate anything that might appeal to men.
Sorry, can’t hear about Stellar blade “literally killing women” when we’re actually being physically beaten up in sports, assaulted in locker rooms and bathrooms AND being attacked in all women’s prisons by men pretending to be women to gain access to said places. I’m thrilled there’s a pretty character to play finally regardless of what she’s wearing. I’m sick of angry dumpy girls they make up to “represent me” that end up looking like the CEO of sweet baby or Leon S Kennedy more than me.
You know….if every thing that they say is “killing X” was really doing that, these oppressed peoples would no longer exist.
As it is, it is more hyperbole that uneducated nitwits, blue hairs, side shaves, and land whales will believe ad nauseum.