10 Recent Video Game Disasters Developers Apologised For
5. Neostream Apologised For "Racist" Caricatures In Little Devil Inside
Neostream Interactive's upcoming action-adventure game Little Devil Inside was shown off at the PS5 reveal event back in June 2020, and while many were enamoured with the game's gorgeous visuals and enticing gameplay, others pointed out some unsavoury character designs.
In the gameplay trailer, the protagonist can be seen being chased by enemies which appear to resemble traditional, racist caricatures of Black or Indigenous tribal people.
The enemies in question wear masks bearing exaggerated red lips often associated with minstrelsy and other offensive, historic depictions of Black people, to say nothing of the stereotypical loincloth and dreadlocks to convey a "tribal" look.
Neostream soon offered an apology to offended parties, and also vowed to change the enemies' design to be more culturally sensitive:
"Racist stereotypes of any kind were absolutely not intended, we were not aware of the stereotypical connotations and wish to apologise to anyone who may have been offended by the character design... The design intention was to create characters who are protectors/guardians of a particular mystic region in the world of Little Devil Inside. We were not producing character designs referenced on any real African and/or Afro-American human tribes."
Though the apology generally went over well, there's been little said about the game in the near-18 months since, suggesting it might be languishing in development hell.