Twitch streamers Hasan and Asmongold are on totally different sides of the debate which sparked after Naughty Dog revealed their upcoming game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
Naughty Dog unveiled a first look at its newest original IP, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, at the 2024 Game Awards on December 12.
As one of the night’s biggest reveals, anticipation for the studio’s next offering was high — but the lead character, bounty hunter Jordan A. Mun, has been the focus of much debate since.
The debate is due to her appearance, with some, including Asmongold, calling her “ugly” because of her shaved head and spartan appearance.
Intergalactic’s main character, Jordan A. Mun, is a spacefaring bounty hunter who’s gotten herself into a bit of a bind.
Asmongold argued that players want to see attractive characters in the games they play, but Hasan has slammed this view, and mocked Asmongold and his communnity.
Asmongold claims Intergalactic could be a commercial failure
According to Asmongold, games whose trailers have been negatively received on announcement tend to flop commercially, something he predicts for the future of Intergalactic.
“Making an ugly character actually is, at best, a net-zero effect, and in almost all cases, a negative effect,” he argued.
“Why would anybody do that? I think the mindset of putting something into a game that players actively don’t like is actually more important than the enjoyment of the customer — I think that mindset is going to permeate the entire game.
“I think the entire game is going to have problems, because it is fundamentally, at face value, not designed for an audience.”
Hasan, meanwhile, mocked “gamers” whose enjoyment of a game depends on whether or not they’re physically attracted to a character.
“People are not embarrassed or ashamed to say ‘every woman has to be fappable.’
“Not everything has to be instant gratification. You don’t have to hyper-sexualize every female character … You should be ashamed to even have those thoughts.”
Hasan also called out creators who “take advantage of the anger and resentment that people have, by grifting to this kind of commentary.”
“They rarely get punished either for making the false prediction that a particular game is ‘woke’,” he said. “Baldur’s Gate 3 is the perfect example of this – it’s the most ‘woke’ game that came out, and everybody loved it. Why is it not considered woke? Because everyone loved it.”