Veteran Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada has replied to a comment from a follower asking if swimsuit costumers will make their way to the western version of Tekken 7, blaming “SJWs” for their absence from the upcoming fighting game.
Replying to a tweet from a fan asking if western Tekken 7 owners would be able to get their hands on the swimsuit costumes available in the Japanese version of the game, Harada replied: “Ask your country’s SJWs. HAHAHAHAHA.” After being criticized for his comment by another Twitter user, Harada replied: “This message is not for females. But I’m sorry if you are sad,” before deleting the tweet.
Harada then went on to suggest that “SJWs” had actively prevented Tekken 7‘s western release featuring the swimsuit costumes, writing: “We released swimwear for all characters on [Tekken Tag Tournament 2] (for Kangaroo, Kuma&Panda, Ogre too!). But SJW said…You know.”
Tekken has always been well-known for featuring over-the-top costumes and the skimpiness of these outfits has never been limited by gender, with the series’ male characters (and also some of the animal competitors) also getting in on the action. Harada claiming that “SJWs” have halted the company from doing so this time around is particularly curious considering that I can find zero articles online bemoaning Tekken Tag Tournament 2 for its introduction of its swimsuit DLC. In fact, the posts I have found frequently mention the game’s refreshing approach to such outfits, with GamesRadar writing back in 2012: “Now, making an entrance right on cue, is a wonderfully sexy Tekken Tag Tournament 2 trailer showing some of those equal opportunity swimsuits in action. Dazzle your eyes with the skimpy yet refreshingly non-discriminatory allure.”
So what is Harada’s end-game here? Well, in a follow-up tweet the producer suggested that the swimsuits will be available in future DLC, which kinda undermines his whole argument that those pesky Social Justice Warriors have censored his game. Are they only concerned when such an addition is made to the base game, but aren’t bothered if people pay extra money for it? Because that sounds like pretty lackluster censorship to me.
At some point in the near future, this will probably be the future of DLC. Whereas gamers have routinely condemned developers who remove content from their game in order to sell it to them in the form of downloadable content further down the line, all these developers now need to do is claim that they were first censored from including said content in the original release, then later include it as paid DLC and reel in those protest purchases.
Check out the Tekken 7 swimsuit costumes, that will probably make their way to the game in the form of DLC at some point in the future, in the video below:
