Martha is Dead to be Censored on PS5 and PS4 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 02 April 2022 / 4,523 Views
Publisher Wired Productions and developers LKA and Caracal Games via Twitter announced the first-person psychological horror game, Martha is Dead, will be censored on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.
The Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC versions of the game will launch with all content unaffected by the censorship on the PlayStation consoles.
"Martha is Dead is a narrative adventure recommended for adult audiences only, with play consisting of potentially discomforting scenes and themes that may distress some player," reads the message from the publisher and developers.
"Both Wired Productions and LKA have always been open and honest about Martha is Dead content, with the sensitive depictions in play consistently communicated to the media since the game was announced in 2019. This content also flagged clearly and repeatedly within the game itself before play begins.
"It is with regret that we have had to modify the experience on the PS5 and PS4 versions with some elements no longer playable. After over four years of passion and hard work, Developer LKA now requires extra time to make these unplanned changes.
"Martha is Dead, as a result, will still launch digitally on both PS5 and PS4 on Thursday, February 24th, but the physical release will be delayed to a year to disclosed date; although we anticipate this to only be a small number of weeks. Our physical edition will still contain the bonus content of a double-sided poster, digital tarot cards, and Martha is Dead Digital EP. We will update players with the date we ship this edition as soon as we have the information.
"The PC and Xbox versions of Martha is Dead are both unaffected by these developments and will launch with the full unedited gameplay as planned."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I think it is hypocritical of Sony. Both God of War and The Last of Us featured violent content that made me squirm.
Hypocrisy
I can't understand such decisions, if you know that you can't watch a certain degree of violence you simple don't play such games. Same with porn, if I have a problem with everything that goes beyond erotic why in hell should I watch a porn movie? Makes no sense!
It's odd considering games like TLOU2 werent censored but this game is? I dont believe in censorship, i believe in "Dont buy it if its too scary/creepy"
Sony shouldn't be the ones deciding what to censor or not. It's not their job. Especially when some very violent games like TLOU2 and MK11 don't get the same treatment. The fact Sony waited so close to launch is a pretty shitty thing to do and adds unnecessary stress for the developers.
Its their platform and they get to decide what they want to sell on it, Sony isn't forcing them to change their vision theyre perfectly free to skip the ps4/5 if they wanted.
This isn't Sony deciding what they want to sell or not, it's them forcing the developer to modify the game to their liking.
Nintendo learned censorship isn't beneficial. Hopefully Sony does too.
Eh? I'm buying it on PC anyways! The more violence, the better! The real world is a dangerous, scary, non trusting place we live in anyways, all kinds of bad things are happening CONSTANTLY in the world. And this is just a video game! Truthfully, if you don't like what's in the game then the game isn't catered towards you so why would you be playing in the first place?
The times, how they have changed. In the mid-90s, Sony (and Sega before it), were the edgy "adult" systems while Nintendo picked up a kiddie image from their Hays Code approach to graphic content, which cost them sales on the biggest arcade game of 1993. Now it's Sony bowdlerizing content on the PlayStation while Nintendo is fairly libertine these days.
Why censor it on the PlayStation but not PC and Xbox?
Depiction and participation of violence on babies is where they drew the line, if any of you actually would bother doing some research.
Sony's good will to make players run away is remarkable... Boycotting the PS5 for this unlimitedly stupid & insulting politic is the best decision I made for years. I'll never give any of my money to people who totally insult millions of players like this. Do sony know what ESRB is?
When I raised concerns over Sony censoring Japanese anime games, I was belittled as a "weeb" and "perv" even though I don't buy those games. I just worried it would be a trend of things to come. And, here were are. I boycotted Nintendo for years due to their censorship policies until they finally backed off, and I will be doing the same to Sony. The ESRB and PEGI already exist to rate the content of games. We don't need you to play police with what other developers do, Sony. Obviously they forgot how well Nintendo censoring Mortal Kombat went versus the Genesis/Mega Drive back in the day.
I'm against censorship in any form so long as no laws are broken or real people harmed. Obviously you're not going to hear any rational person arguing that snuff films are art, but video games are almost exclusively polygons. There are no real people here. It's a cartoon/animation that may have been designed to look realistic.
i like that!
To be honest, i'd rather not see that in a game. Do these scenes impact the game at all?
It depends on the depiction. If it's a grim warning about how horrible those things can be, then I have no issue with it. If it's glorifying it, then I do, but I also recognize that me not liking something does not mean I have the right to censor or destroy it, especially when it's not even real people and is just polygons or lines. The second real people are being harmed, that needs to be shut down instantly and people held accountable.
