“We have decided that the game cannot pass the ZERO rating in its current state and any content changes will not deliver the experience players have come to expect.” In a short statement in Japanese on Twitter, the developers of the video game The Callisto Protocol announced the cancellation of the Japanese version of its title.
Expected for December 2 The Callisto Protocol is a sci-fi horror game with a heavy atmosphere. If the title is mainly aimed at players who want to get scared and jump with the controller in hand, the proposal did not receive the expected reception from the Japanese authorities.
A brutal and bloody game that integrates dismemberment
The CERO body, the equivalent of the European PEGI, was unable to award a rating for the game. Even the highest category of the prevention system – rank Z – is not capable of ‘accommodating the content of The Callisto Protocol. However, this range prevents the sale of a video game to minors.
The violence of the game, therefore, does not fall within the acceptable standards for the CERO. Here, it would seem that violent scenes of dismemberment of enemies cannot be accepted, according to the Polygon site. Because even category Z has its limits for the Japanese regulator. De facto, therefore, the game is prohibited for sale in Japan.
Rather than distort their gameplay by removing certain scenes, Striking Distance Studios has decided to forgo Japanese sales. Especially since when creating their game, the developers had proudly reclaimed the brutal and bloody aspects of their creation.
Japanese players who have already booked The Callisto Protocol they already have the possibility of being reimbursed. And for those who want to play the game at all costs, the development studio plans to keep the Japanese dub of the title. Leaving the way open for import sales.
In 2021, the last of us part 2 had been forced to remove dismemberments from the game in its Japanese edition. Likewise, the title of the Naughty Dog studio -which had shocked for its violence when it was released- also had to retouch a sex scene between two characters to be authorized for sale in the country.
Source: BFM TV
