News inside jeuxvideo.com Skins in video games, the new factor of exclusion – LaPetitePelle draws JeuxVideo.com – N°516
Like every week, LaPetitePelle returns to a major news event of the week. Today, we are focusing on the phenomenon of “skin harassment” which is becoming more and more widespread in the world of video games. LPP takes out its pencil!
A new scourge
We remind you but, basically, skins are in-game outfits intended to modify the appearance of a character or an object. It is therefore a simple customization tool, but which has become popular with the advent of PvP shooters in particular.. Now, in ultra-popular games like Fortnite or Valorant, we see a race for skins and catalogs offering hundreds of different cosmetics. But in addition to often being beautiful, these skins have the unfortunate tendency to be expensive, even very expensive. People are referred to as “poor” if they don’t have a certain skin. As Le Parisien headlined a few days ago, “The race for skins on Fortnite accentuates social differences among children”. The Norwegian study on which their article is based even states that “the amount of money spent on free online games has become a social marker in its own right”. Skin harassment, a subject which is becoming more and more important for the video game sphere, and which LPP has chosen to address this week.
Sony in trouble?
But that’s not all LPP has to tell us today. He uses the subject of skins to talk about another phenomenon that has been affecting Sony for some time. Indeed, although the PS5 had a very good year in 2023, Sony announced a few weeks ago that no major game would be released before April 2025. We are talking about titles on the level of God of War which will therefore take quite a while to wait. And to make matters worse, its direct competitor in the person of Microsoft has large licenses which are – or will – arrive. Enter Indiana Jones, Hellblade or Avowed, Xbox fans will be served this year.