而在媒體評價出眾的反面，遊戲卻身陷爭議，甚至在外網掀起了一輪罵戰，大量玩家參與其中。一些人認為媒體評分虛高，是在「尬吹硬捧」。還有很多人認為，《混音青春》根本算不上一款真正的遊戲，簡直「就像是動畫片」，引起其中有太多部分幾乎不需要玩家進行任何操作就能完成。
近日，有網友發帖爆料稱，《混音青春》本質上是一款靠「裙帶關係」上位和資本包裝出來的遊戲。
據介紹，開發商Beethoven and Dinosaur接受了Annapurna Interactive的注資，這家發行商的負責人是Megan Ellison（下圖右）。她的父親是Larry Ellison（下圖左），是知名科技公司甲骨文的創始人，據稱和以色列權貴圈關係極深，僅2017年一年就捐贈了超過1600萬美元。
此外，Larry Ellison的兒子David Ellison（下圖右）控制著知名電影公司派拉蒙天舞，從沙特公共投資基金以及卡達和阿布達比方面獲得了240億美元的股權投資。
爆料者聲稱，這意味著與Ellison家族財富存在聯繫的Annapurna Interactive，擁有絕大多數獨立遊戲根本無法想像的雄厚資金。這也是為什麼他們能拿下昂貴的音樂版權、進行大規模營銷，並實現多平台同步發行。
爆料者還指出，Annapurna Interactive一直自視甚高，將自己包裝成一家「精品藝術遊戲發行商」，但除了2022年的那款貓咪遊戲《流浪》，幾乎沒有任何一款遊戲能拿得上檯面。（當然，真正的獨立遊戲愛好者肯定會反駁這一點，因為Annapurna Interactive旗下還有很多出色的獨立遊戲，比如《星際拓荒》《艾迪芬奇的記憶》《畫中世界》《弗洛倫斯》《Cocoon》等）
It is confirmed. Mixtape is a nepo-backed astroturfed game. It is developed by a small Australian studio, Beethoven and Dinosaur, and funded by Annapurna Interactive, headed by Megan Ellison. Yes, THAT Ellison family, where her father Larry Ellison, who is one of the most connected to Israel's elites, donated over $16 million in 2017 alone. Larry's son, David Ellison's Skydance/Paramount, secured nearly $24 billion in equity investments from the Saudi public investment fund, plus others from Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile Larry himself is personally funding portions of the equity commitments in the media deals. That means Annapurna Interactive, with family ties to the Ellison wealth, has incredibly deep pockets that most indies could only dream of. This is why they were able to secure expensive music licences, massive marketing, and a multiplatform launch. No evidence that Israel or Middle East money touched the game, but the money is in the family and family talk. Critics are eating it up like slop with near-universal 9-10 of 10 ratings, while the players are skipping it, calling it an overrated walking sim. Annapurna Interactive markets itself as a "prestige" publisher, which aligns with the "high class" artsy vibe that critics love, but the audience doesn't care for. Their only massive commercial success was Stray, the cat game... Meanwhile, pretty much every other game published by Annapurna was a flop or niche... and this one is proving the same as well, with barely 2000 people playing the game on steam.
