Shift Up Addresses Backlash Over “Crab Hand” Art Controversy in Goddess of Victory: NIKKE
- Sagar Mankar
- Nov 2
- 2 min read
South Korean developer Shift Up has reaffirmed its stance against "hate speech" in Goddess of Victory: NIKKE, after fans reignited debate over a past illustration accused of containing “hateful gestures.”
The statement came during a special developer interview celebrating the game’s third anniversary, where director Hyungsuk Yoo discussed both the title’s future and the studio’s approach to content moderation.
During the anniversary stream, Yoo stated, “We will never tolerate anyone intentionally inserting hate speech into NIKKE or approaching the game with that mindset.”
While the statement didn’t directly name any specific incident, it appears to address the backlash that erupted earlier this year when an in-game celebratory image triggered a social media storm among Korean players.
The Background: The “Crab Hand” Illustration Incident
The controversy traces back to a commemorative artwork released for the game’s 1,000th day anniversary in August 2025. The image depicted several female characters holding a cake and gifts (as shown in the above image), but players in South Korea noticed that two characters’ hands were positioned in what they interpreted as the “crab hand” or “jibgeson” gesture.
This gesture, while normal to most players globally, is a politically charged symbol in South Korea. It’s associated with radical feminist groups, accused of mocking men, symbolizing that they have small genitals.
Because of the country’s ongoing gender tensions, even unintentional depictions of this pose can lead to major backlash. Major corporations like Apple and Renault Korea have previously faced pressure to alter advertisements, and Nexon developers even received harassment and death threats over promoting feminist propaganda.
Soon after the illustration went live, Korean online communities exploded with accusations that NIKKE’s developers were embedding feminist propaganda into their content. The studio quickly issued an apology, clarified that the image was created by an external team, and replaced it with an edited version that changed the hand gestures. Shift Up also gave free in-game rewards to players as compensation.
Yoo now confirmed that Shift Up has created a Quality Management department to ensure all artwork and content undergo stricter review before release. The studio also promised to “fortify internal project management” to avoid any "recurrence of issues" tied to visual symbolism or cultural sensitivity.
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