First things first - I don't use forums, hence why I only registered now to make this post, but I wanted to say something about the current update issue, and this seems to be the place where I won't be screaming into the void.
First, I can call myself an old fan of Skullgirls. I remember this game back when it was on Kickstarter, and I have an Endless Beta on my Steam account that hasn't been launched since 2014. I've seen all the drama this game was dragged through. And I see people now make a fuss about this update, mostly pondering one question -
why.
I think I have an answer. No, it's not related to any specific agendas or any such thing. The real issue, I believe, is the state Skullgirls found itself in at this point.
Skullgirls was largely developed by two people, MikeZ and Alex Ahad. Mike handled the gameplay, Alex handled the art. Many other people joined later, but at its core, Skullgirls was the brainchild of those two, and Alex specifically, because he gave the game its distinct art style and atmosphere, as well as the story.
As you might know, Alex left the development quite a few years ago, and it was a nasty breakup. There was a court case, and he walked away with an undisclosed settlement. Obviously, this was a big blow for the development team - like I said, he was
the art guy. And without him, how do you expand the franchise that still has places to go?
When you can't go deeper, your only option is to go wider. Give the license to other people, and see what they make of it. It was successful for many other indie games, Cuphead being a clear example. You can't just put your new characters alongside Alex's in the game because that would look... bootleg-ish, but you can do that in other media done by other artists. Basically, Skullgirls needs to become a multimedia franchise.
There is one hiccup though - Skullgirls is
raunchy. It has girls in purposefully lewd costumes, violence, and a lot of dark themes. And not in the conventional "haha look how silly this is" way you'd find in modern adult animation.
So if you, for instance, wanted to make a cartoon for the general audience, this
NEEDS to be toned down. Not just Filia's panty shots or what have you, but everything - unsavory references, gore, etc. For instance, a scene where a pig cop beats up a black man on the street might bother your future partners. And so would an entire faction of people wearing pretty unambiguous red-on-black armbands. It's not something you'd want in your new marketable (
and cartoony, which is very important) media franchise, especially if there's even a chance that you could sell it to the kids.
And so, the editing process begins. Butts covered, armbands removed, beaten black men moved out of frame. Nice and clean. And naturally, you can't just deliver this to your current audience as-is, they'll call you a corporate sellout. And this is not the reputation you'd want for your co-op indie development team with a goddamn rainbow on their logo. So, you spin it as much as you can. For example, you can say that
your creative vision has shifted, and
certain content has undermined the many things that make Skullgirls truly unique and special. Of course, this is all hogwash and you know it, but your friends at Polygon will do their best to sell it, and it doesn't really matter who buys it as long as the future financial partners do. The future for Skullgirls is brighter than ever indeed.
tl;dr - Do not assume complex agendas in places where good old-fashioned corporate greed can explain everything.
