An IGN France editor probably didn't expect a rant about "oversexualized" game characters to blow up in the Chinese gaming community like this. The article claimed that Shift Up, the developer behind Stellar Blade (星刃), has creators who have "never seen a real woman" — delivering a scathing takedown of the game's female protagonist EVE. But the situation quickly spiraled in a direction the editor never anticipated.
The IGN France piece essentially pulled a textbook self-own: it held up Bayonetta and 2B as "positive examples" of sexy-but-"classy" character design, while slapping Stellar Blade's EVE into the "crass fan service" category. Players on NGA immediately spotted the double standard. One commenter pointed out that both Bayonetta and 2B have exaggerated feminine features — the only difference is that the former two come from games that already went mainstream. Another user nailed it even harder: "This is literally the classic 'divide and conquer' tactic — praise the popular ones, trash the newcomer. The West is just catching onto this playbook?"
But the real plot twist came when players dug into Shift Up's team composition. The IGN France editor accused the devs of having "never seen a woman," but it turns out that Kim Hyung Tae, Shift Up's CEO, is married to the company's lead character designer — who also designed the characters for NIKKE: Goddess of Victory. One commenter dropped the devastating detail: "Not only has he seen women, but his wife is gorgeous. She's also the lead artist for NIKKE and is absolutely legendary at drawing curvy, voluptuous women." In other words, the team accused of "never seeing a woman" literally has a woman — a very talented one — as its core character designer.
The comment section reaction was overwhelmingly anti-IGN. "They're triggered — that means this game is worth playing," one user quipped. Another chimed in that the game already has a playable demo, calling it a "rival to Black Myth: Wukong, with even more real gameplay footage." A NIKKE player admitted that while Shift Up's gacha monetization in NIKKE is scummy, they have no choice but to support them this time around — the enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all.
One thoughtful commenter zoomed out to the bigger picture: true "inclusivity" means letting all creative expressions exist and letting consumers vote with their wallets — not gatekeeping what counts as "classy beauty" versus "vulgar objectification." They argued that Western culture's obsession with this kind of moral policing is exactly why its creative industries are losing their appeal. Another user pushed back, though, cautioning against dragging LGBT issues into something that was purely about character design aesthetics.
Of course, this being NGA, the thread quickly went off the rails. Multiple users started roasting France itself — its romantic stereotypes, its wartime history, and its cultural quirks — with one commenter dryly noting that the article didn't even give French pickpockets credit for being "skilled professionals." It seems the IGN France editor not only failed to set the narrative but inadvertently generated a wave of mockery aimed at their own country.
At the end of the day, one user's comment might be the most on-point takeaway: "Do people who actually play this game even care about media reviews?" When criticism becomes free marketing and editorial outrage fuels more hype than any ad campaign could, the ultimate contribution of that IGN France article was simply introducing more people to Stellar Blade — and to Shift Up's incredibly talented female character designer who draws waifus for a living.
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