And both are saying it’s positive. No one is using it in a negative light. Why are you people so sensitive?
My two cents:
Because the word "pandering" is inherently seen as having a negative connotation (like what u/_Robbie, u/A_Humpier_Rogue, and u/Sardorim mentioned).
If you relate it to a broader discussion about games, you can find other examples where companies were accused of "pandering" to a specific target audience. A recent example: The Last of Us 2. Remember the trailer where Ellie kissed another woman? Remember the reactions about why that was already "pandering" -- i.e., to LGBTs, SJWs, leftists, and the like?
The reason the word "pandering" has a negative connotation is because it minimizes and handwaves any thought process or discussion related to that factor. For instance, we've known that Ellie was falling for another girl (Riley) in TLOU's Left Behind DLC. But, there were some odd people who thought that Ellie becoming attracted to women was already "pandering," completely disregarding her character's development in the previous game and its DLC.
I mean, we could go on and on:
There are people who think that anything that doesn't conform to their worldviews is meant to automatically pander to an entirely different subset. The reality is, you can practically be unaffected by such things if your worldview is broader and more open.