
Sony's Censorship is Neither Rational Nor Legitimate - Article
by Thomas Froehlicher , posted on 25 May 2019 / 15,058 ViewsWhen I heard that Sony had banned PQube from publishing Omega Labyrinth Z in the West, I sincerely hoped that it would be an isolated case. However, that hope quickly faded. My alert levels rose further when Marvelous announced that it had to delay Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal to comply with Sony's new censorship policies. Senran Kagura being much bigger than Omega Labyrinth saleswise, it quickly became clear that the issue was of significant importance.
Lately, the situation has further worsened, with Mary Skelter Nigtmares 2 being a Switch exclusive in the West, and D3 Publisher changing Omega Labyrinth Life on PS4 into a heavily censored "Labyrinth Life". Now that Sony has begun to crack down on small and big Japanese publishers alike, concerns are being raised all over the world. Enough is enough. The consequences of these policies are only just starting to be felt, with sales weakening and the shift to smartphone gaming being accelerated. Sony recently provided details to the Wall Street Journal about its new policies, and I think it's time to separate the right from the wrong.
There aren't many reasons why Sony would risk crossing with its very own fanbase. One is legal concerns, and in actual fact games were already being banned in some countries well before Sony ever stepped in. In 2016, Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni couldn't be marketed in Germany and Australia because the rating agencies there considered that the sexual content in the game wasn't law-abiding.
In today's world, where imported games fly to any part of the world, Sony fears legal action, or at least techradar believes this particular reason given to the Wall Street Journal to be valid. But isn't Sony being a little too cautious here? We can't discard the risk that a Japanese-only game featuring sexual depiction of underage (or underage-looking) girls will end up in Western markets and on Western media. In fact, I reviewed Mary Skelter Nightmares 2 on this website, so that definitely happens, but Sony is not to blame. Instead it's the retail outlet, which had no right to sell me a game that had "for Japan only" written on the back, that is to blame.
In such cases Sony absolutely did its job and complied with the rules - it submitted the game to CERO, the Japanese rating board, and then put it on the market after receiving approval. The retailer that sold the game overseas has to face the consequences and charges, if there are to be any. To my knowledge, no online retailer has ceased exporting Japanese games on the basis of fearing"legal action" following the presence of sexual content in the products they're selling. In fact, some of them have even made it a commercial selling point. A major Asia-based retailer has been campaigning on the topic, pushing fan service-heavy games like Dead or Alive Xtreme 3. This retailer doesn't seem especially afraid, and if you go further up the chain to the second layer of responsibility that would be CERO anyway, not Sony.
When we're talking about a game localized for the Western market, the issue is even simpler - institutions like PEGI and ESRB are entrusted with the responsibility of deciding whether a game is legal or not. Any complaints must be directed to them, and Sony has no legal responsibility concerning what happens with a game that received the greenlight from state-run authorities. The Senran Kagura series, for example, is PEGI 16 in Europe, which is less restrictive than in Japan where the game is recommended for 17 year olds and up. No one has any problem with this game, except Sony! The company cannot be attacked on legal grounds, because it is shielded by the rating process in every territory.


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Just wanted to point out that this only happened after Sony moved Playstation headquarters to California. The censorship isn't coming from Japan, it's coming from pressure within the company. Specifically from the far left environment in the West Coast tech industry that considers the censored work 'misogynistic' or 'patriarchal'.
People have downvoted you, but you are absolutely correct.
Thanks for covering this. Sony going over the rating boards and randomly banning games or elements makes them a publisher of every game that appears on their systems and not just a platform. As the piece stated this means they approve of everything that can be done in GTA or Mortal Kombat.
One issue that I think was overlooked is explaining how the censorship decisions are made. Sony have an internal board that decides whether a game is appropriate or not, which is why the decisions are so inconsistent. Japanese developers have said that there is no solid policy - they simply submit the game and hope for the best, which is why developers have started to remove even the slightest hints of sexuality like for example Athena's outfit on SNK 40th anniversary collection on the PS4 cover, but the the Switch one. The worst part of it all? It has to be done in English and sent to the California HQ, which further complicates things for Japanese developers.
Due to this censorship madness I'm completely boycotting Sony and I recently got a Switch to get uncensored titles.
People, let me explain why Sony's censorship is bad, in my opinion.
If they can censor something as harmless as girls' visible legs or game logos that look like boobs, it's obvious that they would not be beyond doing something like going to a horror game studio and saying "your game is too scary, tone it down".
I'm just worried that this will spread from boobs to other things. How could you possibly say that it won't? If I could get a 100% certain answer that no, it never will, then I wouldn't care about this as much.
To me it doesn't matter what content is censored. It's a matter of principle. Violence or sex - it all should be allowed. This is why we got the rating boards. Same with movies and books. This type of wrongthink censoring is unacceptable.
The best way to start a dialogue is to listen, but that doesn't mean every dialogue is fruitful. When you listen and pander to every single group, you're left with nothing. Moral of story: Censorship DOESN'T WORK!
Great article. Even my beloved Neptunia games will be hit by this new Sony BS. It's actually something I've thought about even more since I recently started 4 Goddesses Online, and it sometimes casts a pall over the experience, knowing that I'll eventually have to switch platforms to enjoy new games in the series ( and other series as well ) in an uncompromised form.
I was waiting for this article to discuss rationality and legitimacy of censorship, as the title indicates, but it never got there. Disappointing.
Especially when the writer in the last paragraph went the whole 'if you can't fix everything then don't bother trying to fix anything' approach. It's a terrible and nonsensical argument and I would I have expected better from writers on this website.
These stupid "soft-porn" scenes usually have no importance to the story or relationships at all, so I don't mind them to be gone or changed. In regards to fapping they do nothing for me, I need more stimulation than that and there are tons of better sources for fap-material. Real romance and intimacy scenes is imho something games deperately needs to include and improve upon, fan-service is the opposite of that.
"I don't care about it so it's okay to be censored"
Can I ask, how old are you? Be honest.
Oh know, all these people fighting to see 10 year old with double D boobies...SAD
If they removed all the blood from Mortal Kombat and I said "all these people fighting to see people murdered in bloody ways...SAD"
What would you say?
Forgot to ask, where do you see 10 year olds? Sounds like you are projecting your fantasies on these fictional 18+ year olds.
Who's 10 and how do we know they're 10?
To writer.
Censorsip Censorsip Censorsip.
How many times you gotta say the same stuff.
Aye Nintendo have more balls this generation.... And titties!
The game was given a PEGI 18 rating. It was refused a PHYSICAL launch by the VSC, but a digital release was still possible.
Then Sony stepped in and banned it from release entirely.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-06-25-playstation-blocks-launch-of-adult-anime-game-omega-labyrinth-z
You are right.
Writers should know about that.