Sony Starts to Censor Sexual Content in Japan - News
by Thomas Froehlicher , posted on 01 November 2018 / 9,127 Views
Omega Labyrinth Z's cancellation on PS4 and PSVita, as well as the removal of an intimacy mode in Senran Kagura Burst Renewal both made it clear that the Sony's Western management had begun to clamp down on sexual content on Sony's platforms. But while the issue seemed to have been limited to Western territories, reports began to surface last week showing that Sony is taking steps to censor games in Japan as well.
The above screenshot was taken by Twitter user uitachibana from the PS4 version of Nora to Kojo to Noraneko Heart, a visual novel with lots of fan service elements. Thick and wide white rays have been added to cover the scene so that the characters' bodies cannot be seen. For reference, in the PSVita version (released months ago) and the Switch version (which was released 4 days ago, along with the PS4 version), the above illustration is much more revealing:
Increased amounts of conveniently-placed steam have also appeared in scenes in Yuragiso no Yuna Yukemuri Meikyu, as the official site of the game now shows. In a previous article on the Japanese PlayStation blog the same scenes looked perfectly clear.
The same thing has happened in the PS4 version of Nekopara Volume 1 (which has just been released after a long delay), and the option to modify breasts physics has also been removed.
Another known case that was reported is the testimony of visual novel maker Light during a NicoNico talk show. Its representative says that while the console version of Silverio Trinity is finished and ready to release, the company isn't getting the greenlight from Sony. Strangely enough, and while Silverio Trinity is currently aimed at the Japanese market, Light was told to submit the specifics of the game entirely in English. This gives rise to many questions about Sony's decision-making and whether Sony of America is leading policies instead of Sony Japan.
Different censoring practices seem to have been used in Sakura Sakura, another visual novel released on October 25th in Japan. Black banners have been added on the sides to conceal the characters' underwear, which wasn't the case in the original PC version. Publisher Entergram later assured fans that the coming PS4 version of Hanasaki Work Spring would be no different to the PSVita version, which came out last year.
While Entergram and Nekopara Works are trying to defuse the situation, that's unlikely to be the end of the matter; this is probably the start of some very rough times for smaller Japanese developers and their fans, where such changes are likely to have a devastating effect on sales.
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Not being a fan of the games shown perse, this move however shows Sony has regressed to where Nintendo was 10 years ago. This will most definitely hurt their image and relationship with Japanese smaller studio developers, whom they relied on to fill certain niches.
Pretty lame.
I'm not a fan of this genre, although I'm otherwise a fan of anime and anime based games. But what Sony is doing here is ridiculous and will damage their image. To be honest, I would have expected this from Nintendo. Here a double moral is shown on the day, and/or measured with two different measures: Games with violence representation or sexual contents (e.g. GTA, The Witcher, Agony) are OK, games with Anime-Ecchi contents are censored however... . The fact that Sony USA is behind it doesn't surprise me at all (prudish America). With such actions Sony makes itself absolutely ridiculous. Sony, you screwed up, then Nintendo or Valve gets my money.
might be an idea to add NSFW in the title of this article as some of those pictures most certainly aren't safe for the type of place I work.
"Sony Starts to Censor Sexual Content in Japan". That's the name of the article. What did you expect to see inside?. Kittens and rainbows?.
@Spike0503 insert roll safe gif
an article, you don't need to show pictures of tits being fondled to talk about Sony's censorship.
I'm not into these games, but sucks for the fans.
sony is letting the success they've had go to their heads i think. the question is, should the general person see this as anti-consumer? because the general person isn't even aware of the censorship. does that make it better? regardless, any kind of censorship is worrisome, because it in a way entails further censorship.
I feel like an idiot for forgetting to cancel my Senran Kagura order. I had ample opportunity. F*****k.
Everything was perfect. Why sabotage yourself? Ruined everything now.
Hmmm....is Sony once again speaking for the gamers in what THEY want. Didn't even give any options. Like EA Access and stuff like that. Now we're censoring games. Bad move Sony. I understand they want clean content, but it will bite them in the ass later. Folks will opt for the Switch version for the uncensored versions. Sad to see Sony taking a few steps back while they're ahead.
Fantastic, Cyber Monday is right around the corner, and I've been itching to get a new PC.
As a huge fan of PS, have a thumbs up.
Hmm... don't know or care about these games, but if Sony is going to censor, then the players interested in these type of games will just get the same game on the Switch or Steam or where ever they aren't being censored.
As long the market has a choice, they will opt for the uncensored version of game over one being censored.
It's pretty dumb that they are doing this and fans of these games should look for the uncensored versions elsewhere. Having said that, this is the consequence of being the console market leader. If they want to remain on top, they have to appeal to the largest amount of people and keep their library squeaky clean of "icky" content so they aren't attacked on mainstream news. Specially considering how sensitive MSM is in the west nowadays.
