Edited sentence: He later stated that he misspoke and that "sexy" would have been the better word to use to describe the character as he was trying to create unique characters and he wanted to add sex appeal to Quiet, adding that "[his comment] wasn't really supposed to be erotic, but sexy.Kojima had previously faced similar criticisms for his depiction of sexual violence directed towards Paz in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.Kojima has stated that he instructed The Phantom Pains art director to make some of the game's characters "more erotic", in order to encourage cosplay and figurine sales.McWhertor found this treatment distasteful, given the importance of the character to the story.The character Quiet has been a topic of controversy, concerning the depiction of women in video games as her appearance included a bare midriff, bikini top and prominent cleavage.The controversy continued following the game's release, with Polygons Michael McWhertor describing the overt sexualisation of Quiet as being gratuitous, distracting, unnecessary and poorly-executed, pointing out that Quiet was given a noticeably different treatment compared to the other characters, particularly in the cinematography of cut-scenes