Injustice 2 makes players beat up bisexual character to celebrate Pride month

Renowned fighting games developer NetherRealm Studios came under heavy criticism on 3rd June over an in-game challenge in the mobile version of Injustice 2, a fighting game featuring DC Comics characters.

The now-removed challenge was added to the game as a way to celebrate the ongoing LGBTQ+ Pride Month, but it quickly became controversial due to what it actually asks players to do.

The challenge was global in nature and it asked the game's playerbase to defeat Entangling Poison Ivy over half a million times in total in order to unlock several bundles with free items as rewards, all in the name of "love and friendship".

(Picture: NetherRealm Studios)

The controversy stems from the fact that Poison Ivy is one of the characters that are canonically bisexual in the DC universe and is often paired up with Harley Quinn in a romantic way.

What was supposed to be a celebration of Pride month quickly backfired, as the community pointed out that forcing players to beaut up a queer character hundreds of thousands of times to earn free rewards "in the name of love" is a rather strange way of showing support for the LGBTQ+ community, to put it lightly.

Members of the LGBTQ+ community are still often victims of severe violence and giving players rewards for beating up a bisexual character is sending a rather troublesome message, even if just being an honest mistake.

(Picture: NetherRealm Studios)

Although some players thought that the reaction was unnecessary as it is just a character in a game, and there was clearly no intention to promote violence, with everything just being blown out of proportion, the reaction of the community was overwhelmingly negative and NetherRealm Studios decided to remove the challenge from the game, admitting their mistake.

pic.twitter.com/jZejuTr1Jf

— Injustice 2 Mobile (@Injustice2Go) June 4, 2021

"We recognize associating our latest Global Challenge with Pride was insensitive and inappropriate," the message reads. "Real-life violence against the LGBTQ+ community and women within that community, in particular, is all too common and we should actively engage in efforts to end LGBTQ+ violence, not to normalize it."

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According to reports, the community had made it to 175,000 eliminations before the challenge was removed, and no rewards were given, as the first bundle was to be unlocked at 400,000 takedowns.

At the time of writing, NetherRealm Studios is yet to add a new challenge that will replace the controversial one.