Resident Evil 5 not redesigned after racism claim
Complaints over racist imagery did not provoke any design changes, according to the game's producer Jun Takeuchi
Resident Evil 5's producer, Jun Takeuchi, has denied claims that the game was redesigned to tone down what some critics had labelled racist imagery.
The criticism, particularly from Newsweek's games writer N'Gai Croal, was aimed at the game's trailer, which was shown at E3 last year. Recent trailers for Capcom's survival-horror title have shown a more ethnically diverse selection of zombies as well as an ethnic partner to the main character.
When asked by Kotaku if if the game had been redesigned with the criticism in mind, Takeuchi replied "No, not really," and that complaints of racism "didn't have any effect on the game design."
"We wanted Chris to have a partner who was familiar with the environment. She's been in there since pretty much the beginning," he said in relation to the new character.
"In terms of the reaction, we're in the business of entertainment... We didn't set out to make a racist game or a political statement. We did feel there was a misunderstanding about the initial trailer," Takeuchi added.