Gamers worldwide were shocked to see the reveal and shadow-drop of Ninja Gaiden 2 Black during the Xbox Developer Direct 2025. Almost a day later, gamers have noticed something odd. The Xbox trailer for the title is missing some female ninjas from the Steam and PlayStation 5 trailers.
For comparison, take a look at the Xbox trailer, which is the same one that was shown during the Direct:
Now, look at the PlayStation 5 video, which is the same as the Steam one:
Confusingly, the Xbox trailer is shorter and has different footage than the other clips. As one X user pointed out, differences start at the 0:35 mark. Other users also chimed in, clearly showing that the Xbox trailer replaced the three female ninjas in the Steam/PlayStation 5 video with masculine monsters.
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I’m on the side that says that this is an odd choice and not that Xbox hates women. If I were to guess, I would say Xbox wanted a less risque version of the Ninja Gaiden 2 Black reveal for the Direct itself and then just uploaded that same footage to its YouTube account. Of course, the Direct featured a lot of blood and gore, which Microsoft was fine with, but “violence ok, semi-nudity bad” is part of the American Dream, after all.
It’s all perfectly fine, though. These female ninjas are still in the actual game, as they appear in the non-Xbox trailers, so all the gamers complaining online about censorship are just doing it for attention. Players can purchase Ninja Gaiden 2 Black on whatever platform they desire and see whatever characters they want. Besides, I heard the real thing to be upset about is how this fancy remaster is closer to Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma than the tough-as-nails original.
Published: Jan 24, 2025 12:50 pm