When Forspoken was first spoken,The game's black heroine is described as having a "hip hop walk," "orphaned" and "very angry,"This has shocked people about the persistence of negative black stereotypes.

Ahead of the release, representatives from Black Girl Gamers, a community organization of 10,000 members with deep experience in black culture and history, were invited to play a pre-release version of the game.

Jay-Ann Lopez, the founder of the group, said in an interview that she believed if the lead character of Forspoken had not been black,The game will get a lot less criticism. This is due to the fact that the game has historically focused on white males for so long.

"Everyone I've spoken to who has played the game loves it in some way and doesn't think it deserves the criticism it's getting."

"Frankly, our industry needs to take a hard look at how games are judged and whether racist players are entitled to disparage a game's performance. It's really, really sad."

It's worth noting that SE's other big title, Final Fantasy 16, is due out this year.Unlike Forspoken, there are no black people in this game at all.

In response, game director Naoki Yoshida said the lack of ethnic diversity was in keeping with the "insular nature of the area" and its medieval European inspiration.