Sony forces Japanese developers to censor sexual content - For Japanese audiences too.

[Ruin]

"Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan president, Atsushi Morita, finally addressed the censorship regulations that Sony has employed for PS4 games, speaking at the Japan Studio “Fun” Meeting that took place in Tokyo, Japan on December 1st, 2018. The event was themed around a celebration of SIE Japan Studio’s projects, but was also open to some fan questions. The news was picked up by Ebitsu.net, which briefly covered some of the topics Morita addressed while at the meet-and-greet."

Morita explained that there was no “profound meaning” behind the decision other to match global regulation, saying…

“Regarding the regulation of the depiction of content, it’s simply a matter of matching global standards.



“As for the freedom of expression… we have to think about what might be unpleasant for children and shield them from those things while also thinking and assessing ways to find a balance [for that expression].”

 

[Guts Gets Some]

Then why the hell do we even have the rating systems? Kids shouldn't be playing M-rated games, for a lot more reasons than just shielding them.

 

[Zaragoza]

“As for the freedom of expression… we have to think about what might be unpleasant for children and shield them from those things while also thinking and assessing ways to find a balance [for that expression].”

Then what is the rating system used for then? If it's rated M then kids under the age of 18 shouldn't be playing it.

 

[LN 910]

"Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan president, Atsushi Morita, finally addressed the censorship regulations that Sony has employed for PS4 games, speaking at the Japan Studio “Fun” Meeting that took place in Tokyo, Japan on December 1st, 2018. The event was themed around a celebration of SIE Japan Studio’s projects, but was also open to some fan questions. The news was picked up by Ebitsu.net, which briefly covered some of the topics Morita addressed while at the meet-and-greet."

Morita explained that there was no “profound meaning” behind the decision other to match global regulation, saying…

“Regarding the regulation of the depiction of content, it’s simply a matter of matching global standards.



“As for the freedom of expression… we have to think about what might be unpleasant for children and shield them from those things while also thinking and assessing ways to find a balance [for that expression].”

It's hilarious when companies admit they're making their ultra violence shit for children.

 

[SiccDicc]

I'm thinking China opening themselves up to the gaming market has something to do with this. Ubisoft tried similar shit for that reason -- oversight being that China wasn't gonna be allowed to play with us anyways so it didn't make sense to change it for our side.

Or it could be Californication. I hate both equally enough I don't mind casting blame either way.

 

[AZ 594]

I'm thinking China opening themselves up to the gaming market has something to do with this. Ubisoft tried similar shit for that reason -- oversight being that China wasn't gonna be allowed to play with us anyways so it didn't make sense to change it for our side.

Or it could be Californication. I hate both equally enough I don't mind casting blame either way.

They aren't banning Gay themes, Black people, or Ghosts from their platform, so either they are misguided or they aren't doing it for the Chinese.

 

[alex_theman]

I think it's dumb that companies have to act as moral guardians since people are too lazy to be somewhat responsible parents, but I would say the same thing (People are lazy) about several other issues.

 

[IAmNotAlpharius]

Gotta love NicheGamer shamelessly spinning this for the KIA outrage clicks. No, it's not just a game that "contains sexual themes", it's a pornographic visual novel. The dev admitted as much. Releasing the uncensored version on PC and a safe version for consoles has been standard practice for over a decade, because mainstream game retailers are wary about carrying 18+ stuff, and they represent a viable chunk of the market. It's also not being completely censored from Japanese audiences at all, considering that this is a port of a game that already came out last year.

Sony's building up a track record of being shitty to deal with and forcing delays over their content policies, though. So even if their Japan policy isn't really censoring much that isn't generally removed anyway, it still deserves to be killed off for wasting everyone's time.

Sony’s management sucks. If it weren’t for the PlayStation they’d be fucked. There’s a reason their films bomb. Keep in mind they made the Emoji movie.

 

[AnOminous]

I think it's dumb that companies have to act as moral guardians since people are too lazy to be somewhat responsible parents, but I would say the same thing (People are lazy) about several other issues.

Eventually every fucking form of media in the world will be dumbed down for the absolute dumbest people in every part of the world. It's only a matter of when the Chinese market opens to the world but only if they get to dictate in every detail what's allowed to be in it.

 

[XYZpdq]

Maybe I'm misremembering but hasn't the Japanese market supported multiple obscure platforms simply because they offered cartoon titties? I don't know that this will kill Sony but it'll probably embiggen some rivals.

 

[Slap47]

I think it's dumb that companies have to act as moral guardians since people are too lazy to be somewhat responsible parents, but I would say the same thing (People are lazy) about several other issues.

The sad part is that they could easily ignore them. There is no moral majority in Western countries.

 

[Zaragoza]

I'm thinking China opening themselves up to the gaming market has something to do with this. Ubisoft tried similar shit for that reason -- oversight being that China wasn't gonna be allowed to play with us anyways so it didn't make sense to change it for our side.

Yes, you were of course talking about Rainbow Six Siege which began to change certain map props on all versions of the game, and considering how big the game is, I have a feeling it's going set a bad precedent for all developers to change some stupid inane ass shit like this to appeal to the Chinese government.

 

[XYZpdq]

to appeal to the Chinese government.

As far as I understand if they're not pulling time travel and spoopy skellingtons then it's not for China, it's for the neo-Puritans.

 

[Slap47]

As far as I understand if they're not pulling time travel and spoopy skellingtons then it's not for China, it's for the neo-Puritans.

China bans porn though.

 

[Orkeosaurus]

So much for PlayStation being the weeb smut console. it's hard to believe Dragon's Crown was so long ago.

 

[Mapo Tofu]

So much for PlayStation being the weeb smut console. it's hard to believe Dragon's Crown was so long ago.

Did anyone even played Dragon's Crown?
It was a good gane but all I saw was "BIG TIDDY SORCERESS" on social media by the time the PS4 version released

 

[Orkeosaurus]

Did anyone even played Dragon's Crown?
It was a good gane but all I saw was "BIG TIDDY SORCERESS" on social media by the time the PS4 version released

Yeah its a legitimately good game but even the NPCs have bigger tits than Hitomi Tanaka.

 

[Medicated]

You know you dun goofed when fucking nintendo allows more sexualized content than you

It sounds like a joke, but it's probably not far off.

Nobody buys Japanese games because they are part of the global standard. No one will buy Japanese games if they all start trying to match Ubisoft and EA. They'll just die off. The entire draw of the Japanese industry is they do things that the US and UK won't.

 

[Anonymus Fluhre]

This explains the influx of visual novels on Steam as well as Japanese and Korean games.

 

[SiccDicc]

It sounds like a joke, but it's probably not far off.
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Nobody buys Japanese games because they are part of the global standard. No one will buy Japanese games if they all start trying to match Ubisoft and EA. They'll just die off. The entire draw of the Japanese industry is they do things that the US and UK won't.

I buy Eastern European games for that eurojank fun. I buy Western games for that rooty tooty shooty. I buy Japanese games for that weird shit only they could come up with. Variety is the spice of life and globalization is the moldew that makes you throw out food.

It saddens me seeing other parts of the world try to match up to a single standard. It's boring as fuck.