Censorship in Gaming and Sony
Is Sony the new Nintendo, or are they truly justified in their recent censorships?
Any gamer who uses the internet may be aware of some of this already, but Sony has been cracking down on games with explicit content on their platforms (PS4 and Vita, just for clarification sake). From what I have heard and seen, these are games that have lots of fan service, which is any content that is added just to please its audience, usually sexual. This doesn’t (always) mean full nudity or pornographic might I add. It could be a ‘cheeky’ bit of cleavage or some panties. It’s essentially lots of ‘ass and titties’, as the expression goes. So of course, it would be anime-styled games that would be the first to fall.
Sony’s Hitlist
What kicked off this great upset was the cockblocking of a dungeon crawler game called ‘Omega Labyrinth Z’ that has a lot of emphasis on interacting with lewdly dressed girls/women. It began with the UK not wanting to certify a physical launch for the game, mostly because there is a mode within the game where the player basically gropes these girls, touching them to arouse them. If one is successful with this, you are rewarded with a ‘shame break’ where clothes just fall off, revealing more digital flesh. You can then cover them with honey, a strange dog licks it off, and the girls respond with sexual language. What makes this the more concerning is the fact the game makes you very much aware that these girls are underage and are still in high school.
You can read more about this game and the UK’s take on this in the link below.
The US and EU rating systems (PEGI and ESRB respectively) gave the game their mature ratings and were done with it. Sony interposed and thus ended all chances of that game appearing in the UK.
The fires were stocked as it were, which would only grow when an XSEED Games would be delaying the release of their game ‘SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal’ as they were going to remove the games ‘Intimacy Mode’ (you can probably guess what that entails) on western PS4 releases. All other versions of the game were untouched in this regard might I add.
My understanding of this game, as I have never heard of it prior to the writing of this blog, is that it is a beat-‘em where you control and fight skimpily dressed anime women/girls. It has sold well, and there is a clear fanbase for this game, very little of them liking the decision to censor elements of the game that would be present in previous entries in the franchise. 8 games in the series, prior to this one, had no such censorship.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out why these sort of minigames/modes appeal to people. It strokes fantasies in similar fashions that some get from watching porn, only with anime girls. Some, of course, find this distasteful. These games are not as bad as ‘Rape Day’ by any account, but it is rather degrading, that much cannot be denied.
Whatever side of the fence you sit on, it is something that is not all that uncommon in games, and Japan has next to no problem with this sort of thing. There is a clear culture barrier, to say the least, between how things are done in the west and east. That being said, Japan is not so keen on the overly bloody gorefests that are prominent in a lot of Western games. One example I am aware of is a revision of ‘Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeros’.
The difference being is that, with MGS, Japan’s rating boards as the ones who effectively said ‘change that shit if you want this to be released in our country’. With these anime games, it is Sony who has said ‘change that shit if you want this to be released on our console’, despite receiving the appropriate ratings from rating boards. Now they are more than entitled to do this, PlayStation is Sony’s platform after all, but these two anime-esque censorships do raise slight questions about Sony and any new policies they may have implemented, and what that means for the future of the platform and how far Sony will go before the general populace stops them.
In short; pretty far, as more games have received similar censorship since.
This is where I began to become aware of Sony’s censorship ‘schemes’ outside of this blog, as ‘Nekopara Volume 1’, a visual novel about a male cafe owner with his Nekos (cat-girls basically) was released November 2018 on PS4 and Nintendo Switch. What was removed was a slider that controlled the amount of boob jiggling. There are also certain bathing scenes with the Nekos, where steam is covering their lady parts. Other versions of the game have this as well but to a lesser extent. Weirdly, the Switch version of the game hasn’t touched the boob jiggle slider. This is Nintendo for fuck sake! ‘Family-friendly’ Nintendo will allow little Johnny to play with his Johnny with this game! It’s hilarious actually how they don’t mind this but Sony is not.
I have friends who, like me, like anime. Some REALLY like anime…like…a lot, and were quite frankly horrified by this small change (these few are really into hentai I ashamed to add). I will admit that a few years ago, a friend and I went through the visual novel together on PC and I found it engaging and sweet. Now, he had a version of the game that was not only uncensored but contained the original pornographic sex scenes (which are not on Steam or console for obvious reasons!) and I have always found those sort of things, and overly stupid and unrealistic boob physics distracting. I will admire the anime artform to an extent before it becomes just stupid and downright insulting to a good half of the human race.
But I digress. The material found in these examples all very suggestive, with some nudity going on, but none of its porn. I just want to reiterate that difference.
Another adult visual novel that got this treatment was ‘Nora, Princess, and Stray Cat’. I will just leave a comparison picture below for you to look at rather than explain it.
These are just a few examples that I am aware of, mostly through anime-loving Facebook friends moaning and groaning, and a couple of YouTubers doing the same. The crux of the matter is that these games are labelled as mature, and have been left unaltered on other platforms, but Sony has stepped in and demanded that developers make alterations, or not have said game on their platform. Based on these facts alone, this is all very strange and if that had been the end of it, I think things would have blown over and been fine(ish)…but that is not the case.
The final piece of censorship I am going to discuss in detail is ‘Devil May Cry 5’, which is much bigger and popular than the other games mentioned here and it too made gaming news headlines for its censorship on western PS4 copies of the game. See the below images for what happened.
The context here is that Dante is bringing back an unconscious female character back to safety from whatever has happened (I haven’t played this game, hence one's vagueness). It was patched out in US versions of the game, but everyone in the EU is left with this not so subtle lens flare. I suppose Brexit maybe good for something I suppose…
A Discussion
Poor jokes aside, from my limited understanding of the situation, there is nothing sexual about this at all which makes this rather silly. First, there were alterations in anything pornographic and simulated groping minigames with overly sexualised underage anime girls. Then was the censoring of more softcore imagery, like cleavage, in visual novels. Finally, it is the removal of some flat buttocks with a bright light that puts ‘Assassin’s Creed 3’s loading screens to shame! Things have clearly become much stricter, and one does wonder how future games will be affected both on the PS4 and PS5. For example, the first ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ gameplay trailer was not shy about the amount of bloody, nude lying about if memory serves me correctly. It showed the horror some of the society that lived there, not to arouse players and encourage necrophilia.
There is also speculation about possible censorships with ‘Catherine Fullbody’ which may or may not cause further outrage. The original had censorship, but that was part of the gameplay, as it was very self-aware and tongue-in-cheek. Perhaps it is my biased love that makes me feel this, but I personally feel the game has had enough hate, which I ramble on about in a short blog about a controversy that unfolded earlier this year.
There was a recent article (at the time of typing) that was published by The Wall Street Journal that explored Sony’s change of policy. In it, one spokesperson gives the poor excuse that these new policies were implemented so that gaming does not inhibit the growth of young people (which I paraphrased for you). This is all fine and dandy, but what every game in this blog has in common is that they are very clearly marketed as mature games, which is recognised by rating boards, XBOX and PC. They are not intended for young people. It is up to parents/guardians to teach their children that what they see and do in games is not real and should not think it is ok for little Timmy to mow-down the class, celebrating with Fortnite dances, and expect them to come back to life via the ancient art of teabagging. They shouldn't get scared shitless when they see something grotesque or sexual either.
It is going to be adults who are going to play these games, knowing full well what they are going into when they buy the said games, either for themselves or children.
Other PlayStation spokespeople stated that they were concerned for the reputation of the platform and any legal action that may be taken against them for hosting these sort of games on their consoles. Said concerns began with the Me Too movement started to get some traction. This is combined with the fact that younger audiences may see their favourite content creators on YouTube, Twitch etc. play more of these mature games, thus being exposed to violence and sexual content.
Before I carry on, I have to state the Me Too movement is a wonderful thing that is incredibly important to both genders. It is sad that it is a thing due to the magnificent arseholes out there that have caused this level of discomfort to both women and men, but that is a conversation for another time. That being said, associating the Me Too movement with overly sexual videogames, is like mass shootings are a result of violent video games. We all know it is balderdash, but the media like to make you believe otherwise. It is down to parents to educate and understand that the likes of PewDiePie are not responsible for mass murders, but the seriously troubled mind the shooter.
But this blog isn’t about violence, but nudity and sexual content. The same can be said here. If you expect boobs to defy gravity when a woman walks around, or expect them to have instant orgasms by touching them, I’m sorry, but you need help!
I will leave a link to The Wall Street Journal article for you to read at your own leisure. I should note that you will need an account to read it.
Coda
Guidelines and boundaries for violent and sexual content are important, which is something I am not trying to dispute. Because of the inconsistency of Sony’s censorships, no one really knows how to make a game regarding its image. It is only when the game is finished that these problems are revealed to the developers, resulting in wasted time, resources and man/womanpower to ‘fix’ things. It is not ideal for developers and it is not ideal for consumers either, which in turn is not good for all things PlayStation. I also wonder how this will reflect on future first-party content. If they are more lenient here, that won’t be very fair when compared to the companies who really want their players to fondle with impossibly large anime titties, or to see a AAA buttcrack for five seconds. I still find it crazy Nintendo will let you play with catgirl boobies but Sony won’t. How times have changed…
In short, I think Sony should let the rating boards do their jobs and let people enjoy games the way they were meant to be played. The sexual content is not for everyone, and neither is the over-the-top violence. People can pick and choose what they want to play and find something that is right for them. This is basic stuff, surely?
What do you think about all of this censorship? Have Sony overstepped the mark, or are they doing all the right things? Or, do you think they haven’t done enough? What’s a weird example of censorship in gaming you have experienced?
Let’s start a conversation, people!
