2020 really hasn’t been good to everyone. From the COVID situation even to social issues, gaming has usually been a safe space that people can run to but it seems that it is just not the case anymore. A first look at Spider-Man Remastered saw the face model of Peter Parker changed from John Bubniak to Ben Jordan. This was met with a lot of resistance, even prompting some players to send threats to Insomniac Games.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, you can check out the change below:

The reason for this, as explained by Insomniac, was to “to bring the best performances to players with our next-generation Marvel’s Spider-Man games, we have recast the face of Peter Parker. We loved working with John Bubniak on the original game; however, to get a better match to Peter Parker/Spider-Man actor Yuri Lowenthal’s facial capture, we have cast Ben Jordan to be the face model for Peter Parker on the PS5 console.“

They have since received a lot of flak for this change, and the complaints have gotten so bad that Bryan Intihar, the creative director of Marvel’s Spider-Man, has been receiving threats as a result. Intihar has called for respect across the community and instead, channel our energy into being a force for good.

Neil Druckmann, Laura Bailey, and Cory Barlog have showed support to Intihar, providing words of support to their colleague. As you’ll remember, Druckmann and Bailey have also gone through harsh criticism when The Last of Us Part II first came out, due in large part to the story sequences in the game that have “ruined” the series for long time fans.

Constructive criticism is always welcome, but everyone needs to be responsible enough to not cross a line that sends off hateful and sickening remarks to fellow human beings. In this time of social media, everyone has a voice but let us use that voice responsibly to become better citizens. The world is tough as it is, we don’t need to add to it, and there is simply no space for hate in video games, or anywhere else for that matter.

Spread the love, folks!