“Get The Girls Out Of There!” — HYBE CEO Under Fire For Past Controversy In Sexualizing Female Game Characters

Fans call for girl groups to get out of the company.

HYBE‘s CEO Park Ji Won was previously a part of Nexon Korea. He was the former COO before moving on to becoming the CEO of HYBE. Although he had much business success with Nexon, he also previously came under controversy with the game Sudden Attack 2.

Park Ji Won joined Nexon Korea in 2003, and later rose in ranks to become the COO in 2014. He joined BigHit Entertainment in 2020, rising to the CEO position in 2021. Fans have criticized him for his goals of making money from consumers in the short term. A post by a Chinese netizen on Weibo revealed his controversy. His game, Sudden Attack 2, came under fire for overly sexualizing its female characters.

Screenshot 2024-04-27 at 9.37.45 PM
| Weibo

“Just who is HYBE’s current CEO Park Ji Won?

He graduated from the department of political science and government of Yonsei University, and joined Nexon in 2003. He became the representative director of Nexon Korea in 2014. He launched an ambitous game, Sudden Attack 2, in 2016. The game experienced a huge controversy and eventually was discontinued in less than 3 months. He joined BigHit in 2020, and became the CEO of HYBE in 2021. I heard that he is best at making money from consumers within a short period.

— Netizen  

Some of the examples given included unnecessary positions in which the female characters would fall in.

Screenshot 2024-04-27 at 9.38.35 PM
| Weibo

They also made the female characters straddle men.

007ljRmwly1hp4ial6a2cj31400wjdks
| Weibo

Revealing outfits, showing butt cheeks, uncanny placement of breasts, etc, these were just the tip of the iceberg.

007ljRmwly1hp4iakv6luj30r31xhk4q
| Weibo

Fans have grown worried, and are calling for girl groups to be saved.

Fans have also had a problem with him in the past for how he talked about various boy groups.

Many video games globally contain sexual elements to appeal to the male audience. This speaks volumes about just how bad Sudden Attack 2 was, for it to be shut down 3 months in.

The controversy surrounding HYBE is only getting deeper and deeper.

HYBE has yet to respond to these allegations.

Source: Weibo
Scroll to top