An upcoming game listed on the Nintendo Switch’s online store boasts some surprising features along with its four different endings and “amazing soundtrack”: “Obscenity and sexism.”
A screenshot from Metropolis: Lux Obscura
Metropolis: Lux Obscura is already on Steam, but on April 4, Metropolis, which is rated “Mature 17+” in the US, arrives on the Nintendo Switch. It’s film noir-styled interactive comic book game with self-described “gorgeous, sexy girls” and hardboiled crime fiction. Having played it a little, I can say that Metropolis is a fun, raunchy game with a great “match three” fighting mechanic. Big plot points feature scantily-clad women, often strippers or sex workers, who rely on the gritty male protagonist for help. Scenes with these women, who tend to be very thin with large breasts, are often gatekept by big fights. The game’s script is written by a woman named Neale Sourna.
A little jarringly, here’s what the game’s Nintendo store description looks like:
A screenshot from Metropolis: Lux Obscura’s Nintendo store page
Reached for comment, Metropolis developer Ivan Lytkin explained that, while there is “no actual sexism inside, still someone can think that women are treated as sexual objects in the game”. He added that the “sexism” bullet point is to warn “people who can be offended by such stuff (nowadays people are offended by anything)”. When I asked how he reconciles the game not, in his mind, being sexist and the game treating most women like sex objects, he explained. He described the warning as a “protective measure” to ward off “hypochondriac people who may be disappointed by passive female roles as sexual objects (girls are fully dependent on men in the game)”.
Nintendo did not respond to a request for comment.
It looks like the game’s developers meant to warn players that Metropolis could be taken as sexist instead of boasting “sexism” as a feature. That’s interesting. At the same time, why would one do that if there’s “no actual sexism”?
Comments
14 responses to “Game Warns Players It Includes ‘Sexism’, But Developer Says ‘No Actual Sexism Inside’”
Ummm because of articles like those that pop up on Kotaku weekly about something being sexist in gaming? Because we live in a culture where even looking at a women is considered rape culture? Because we are in a time where people are offended by anything as stated in the article? Or maybe because we live in a world where if someone is not a victim of something, then they will make up or find a reason to be that victim?
Short answer: Society as it is today!
The times they are a-changin
Edit:
Society’s always been shitty, no? It’s just who gets shit on sometimes changes (to greater or lesser amounts)
“Because we live in a culture where even looking at a women is considered rape culture?”
Rubbish and hyperbole. IF you think this is true, it says more about your inability to try and understand something you have no experience in or no interest in understanding from the point of view of others.
Yep totally agree. Also, yes the game is clearly sexist. It’s inherently so through their use of theme and lack of female agency. How big an issue that is is up to the player but it’s not an incorrect label.
Like men who somehow feel victimised because objectifying women is now seen as a negative?
Your hypocrisy is hilarious.
Maybe his motivation is advertising? A no name game suddenly makes the news for a day, smart people will roll their eyes and all the gamer gaters will rally their pitchforks and buy it because it stands up to evil SJW conspiracy. Groan.
People like this make me sick. They really don’t understand just because something is not (eg) sexist to them. That doesn’t make it not sexist nor does it make the people who see it ‘sensitive’. If anything it makes people like this seem ‘tiresome’, like dinosaurs too scared to evolve . To sad to realise that the rest of the world understands that topics like gender and race are far more complicated than these dinosaurs think.
Yet these ‘sensitive’ people are are the ones who are suppose to be fragile. Hardly.
People who dont want to see passive woman in game (or anywhere for that manner) anymore arent hypochondriacs, they are mature and sick of tiresome tropes that deserve to be left to history. Only lazy writers think such things are welcomed.
Sounds like the warning worked for you then.
rubbish like this doesnt offend me, far from it, it just makes me roll my eyes and laugh a little. his moronic reasoning, however, insults my intelligence. people trying to be edgy but just coming across as silly.
If that is true, then so is the reverse. In other words, it doesn’t automatically make something sexist simply because someone comes along and says it is.
And I actually agree with the notion of ‘Just because they don’t think it’s sexist, doesn’t mean it isn’t.’ , but people can’t go picking and choosing which of these ‘rules’ apply to others and not themselves.
Your rules either apply to everyone across the board, or they are worthless and shouldn’t be applied to anyone.
They should just apply a generic warning to everything. “Warning: contains offensive themes and imagery”. People can just refer to that when something offends them in the game/film/book etc.
Pfft, assuming that I’m going to be offended by this because I’m part of todays society? That’s racist.
Assuming I want to be a part of today’s society just because I’m alive today? That’s chronocentrist!
Multiple choice time!
a) The developers genuinely think their game is not actually sexist, but realised many people will and are trying to warn them, but have not done so very well;
OR
b) The developer doesn’t understand that they hold views that actually are sexist to most people;
OR
c) This is a very calculated move on the part of the developer, in order to get everyone talking about the game;
OR
d) All of the above;
OR
e) Other (fill in below).
Me, I’d pick d.
E with a splash of B & D: That particular bullet point isn’t present on Steam, only in the Nintendo eStore; apart from being a nutsack, perhaps the dev thought to exploit the perception that Nintendo consoles are for kids/don’t have “mature” games?
Very particular market for this type of advertising, more fool anyone who takes it up as a flag.
Trying to get that sweet outraged at “PC culture” dollar.