PlayStation's new censorship making you move away from the brand?

[DaivRules]

I don’t exclusively game on Sony and often look at Nintendo’s offerings of the same titles anyway when deciding which versions to purchase. Less about censored or not, more about the portability factor when it comes to Switch. I’ll gladly take the portability factor over trophies in most games. With the Remote Play experience much improved over the years, this becomes less of an issue. 
 

When it comes to censorship, I really don’t like when developers fold and compromise on something, just to release it to make money anyway. If they really felt their view was compromised, stand up and fight it. Releasing two versions, one compromised and one not, signals to me that they didn’t care enough about their vision to ensure it was released only as intended.

 

The ratings boards have already impacted game creation over the decades. They were the first to start making developers shape their products to fit the ratings to be released. Their decisions have largely been arbitrary and even changing over the years. Sesame Street episodes considered safe for Everyone in the early seasons were re-rated only safe for Teens and above when they were packaged to be released for DVDs later on. 
 

This is how the entertainment industry has always worked. The platform holders make the calls on what they’ll host. As a creator, you decide if you want access to their platform and if your content needs to be compromised to do it, you decide to compromise or you find another platform. Compromising and releasing your content signals you endorse the changes. 
 

Cost is not a barrier to entry to any platform these days, especially in video games. If a developer believes in their uncompromised content, then find the platform that’ll host it and it will be sought out. Stand your ground and you will find support.
 

So no, this issue isn’t driving me to another platform because I’m not exclusively on one to begin with. But can it divert my money from one platform to another? Yes, if a developer makes that my only choice. For many of you, they already do that with trophies.

[Silver-I-Chariot]

Well, yeah, I don't like Sony. Really disliked the vita and the PS4 and not a big fan of their brand, marketing or company politics. The only reason I will stay loyal is that I'm a sucker for trophies. Yes, I do realize it's a very stupid reason to keep buying their products but I enjoy trophy hunting too much to give it up now. If not for trophies there is no way I would ever buy another Sony console again. 

[FilmFanatic]

It’s interesting that most people here seem to think that it’s almost entirely sexual content that is being censored yet having a look through the list it’s about 60% for sexual content (and not all of it is visual, some sexual language is toned down as well) and 40% for violent content. But I guess that’s the world we live in. Violence is fine and normal but nudity, won’t someone please think of the children.

[DaivRules]

6 minutes ago, FilmFanatic said:

Violence is fine and normal but nudity, won’t someone please think of the children

You want me to think of nude children?

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a joke, but some of you make me think I need to put this here. 

 

[You]

I don't like censorship but hey, it's kinda trivial now. In this day and age do most people even care?

You're about 10 seconds away from everything you could ever hope to search for, via a quick google search, for free.

[Dauersack]

It is not bad enough to make me move away from the brand, but it definitely costs them a lot of money they otherwise would have gotten from me had they not been censorship practicing shits. If a game is compromised by censorship, the chance of me paying for it go way down. I skipped entire series, like Wolfenstein, due to it being censored to shit in Germany, I did not pay for censored games like Conan Exiles (game had to be free on psplus when I happend to have it active for me to play it) because they were censored in some way. I will probably not buy Cyberpunk on the PS4 because I suspect it to get censored so I will get it on Pc instead if I decide to buy it. I am an adult and I refuse to be told what I can and can't handle to see, if there is an uncensored version on another platform I will get that instead, no matter whether I am actually interested in what was cut out. If it is a playstation exclusive I know they censored, I will likely not buy it at all.

[Juzota]

I don't know anything about this censorship thing. I have million other reasons why I'm gonna buy Series X rather than PS5.

[GizMo_The_Great]

I care little about censorship when it comes to console choice. I had issues when I played on Xbox and would never go back. But I will admit I’m more inclined to purchase digitally from a region store that doesn’t censor the game.

 

Sometimes the censoring makes little to no sense either. You have games like Stick of Truth that is censored in the EU because a cartoon character gets probed by aliens, but then Conan Exiles has full nudity. I know that technically the censorship in SoT wasn’t down to Sony, but it still makes little sense from any standpoint.
 

I have little interest in using hand cursors to fondle an anime characters breasts, but if that is part of the gameplay I would prefer it remain in, so I can experience the game how it was intended.

 

If you start picking and choosing what you censor, then you’re just injecting your own bias into games.
 

Gratuitous violence and foul language is ok, as long as cleavage is not showing. 

 

Or nudity is ok as long as nobody says any naughty words.

 

It is just stupidity, if you feel the need so desperately to interfere, give us the option. Like in a few of the CoD games that asked if you wanted the graphic content. Leave it all in, and give us the option to decide.

Edited October 11, 2020 by GizMo_The_Great

[R4M_Noskillzpro]

Sony has double standards when it comes to censorship. Most games that are censored are Japanese games. The most recent example of double standard is The Last of Part 2 where the sex scene was not censored because the amount of backlash that it would generate would have been huge. Also I am pretty damn sure Cyberpunk 2077 won’t have any censorship. Gta 5 is another game which is not censored. 

27 minutes ago, Nighcisama said:

It is not bad enough to make me move away from the brand, but it definitely costs them a lot of money they otherwise would have gotten from me had they not been censorship practicing shits. If a game is compromised by censorship, the chance of me paying for it go way down. I skipped entire series, like Wolfenstein, due to it being censored to shit in Germany, I did not pay for censored games like Conan Exiles (game had to be free on psplus when I happend to have it active for me to play it) because they were censored in some way. I will probably not buy Cyberpunk on the PS4 because I suspect it to get censored so I will get it on Pc instead if I decide to buy it. I am an adult and I refuse to be told what I can and can't handle to see, if there is an uncensored version on another platform I will get that instead, no matter whether I am actually interested in what was cut out. If it is a playstation exclusive I know they censored, I will likely not buy it at all.

No Cyberpunk is not going to be censored. Have you forgotten the Last of Us 2 sex scene? Also Wolfenstein was censored due to German laws not allowing Swastika symbols. Sony can’t do anything there. 

[GizMo_The_Great]

6 minutes ago, Noskillzpro407 said:

Sony has double standards when it comes to censorship. Most games that are censored are Japanese games. The most recent example of double standard is The Last of Part 2 where the sex scene was not censored because the amount of backlash that it would generate would have been huge. Also I am pretty damn sure Cyberpunk 2077 won’t have any censorship. Gta 5 is another game which is not censored. 

As I said earlier sometimes the censorship doesn’t make any sense. But when it comes to the majority of these Japanese games getting censored I can understand the reasoning to some extent. It’s less about nudity and more about the context. A sex scene is fine, but objectification of female characters would be the main issue. You do find that a lot of the censored Japanese games do have some form of objectification towards female characters. Be it the almost non-existent clothing, the ability to strip them, or the sections where you simply have to grope them.

[Silver-I-Chariot]

53 minutes ago, FilmFanatic said:

It’s interesting that most people here seem to think that it’s almost entirely sexual content that is being censored yet having a look through the list it’s about 60% for sexual content (and not all of it is visual, some sexual language is toned down as well) and 40% for violent content. But I guess that’s the world we live in. Violence is fine and normal but nudity, won’t someone please think of the children.

 

Violence is being censored? Where? Games like Tlou2 are a gore fest straight out of a snuff film. I can't imagine what kind of violence this game would need to get censored for it.

[Conor]

I was pushed towards PlayStation because Xbox was an all-round inferior platform. It still is, so no, I'm not going back to maining an inferior platform because some games I'd have never played get changed. 

 

Also censorship has nothing to do with "SJW" (an utterly meaningless acronym now that teenage edgelords and uneducated neocons have driven it into the ground)

Edited October 11, 2020 by Stan Lee

[ladynadiad]

Censorship is never going to make me change what system I buy.  I buy Playstation systems because they have games I want to play that I can't get on Steam.  I don't buy Xbox and Nintendo because they don't.  If those facts change, then I'll consider buying an Xbox or Switch or not buying a Playstation.  Buying PC games is pretty much a given, I'll always own a computer and have a Steam account.

 

That being said, I've always found censorship of sexual content to be incredibly dumb.  I see a naked human body every day when I shower and change my clothes.  Most of us will see other naked people in their lifetimes as well.  Very few people will see violence outside of TV, movies and games, so why is violence so acceptable but not something that is far more natural and a part of our lives not?  Morality regarding nudity and sex just never has made sense to me and neither has this acceptance of violent content.

 

2 minutes ago, Silver-I-Chariot said:

 

Violence is being censored? Where? Games like Tlou2 are a gore fest straight out of a snuff film. I can't imagine what kind of violence this game would need to get censored for it.

 

Violence was censored more in the past than it is now, but it definitely has happened before.  Most commonly blood is removed from violent scenes to keep a game at a T rating instead of an M rating since the presence of a lot of blood is very commonly what bumps the game up to M.  If a dev is aiming for the game to be M rated, they won't cut any violence out.

[FilmFanatic]

5 minutes ago, Silver-I-Chariot said:

 

Violence is being censored? Where? Games like Tlou2 are a gore fest straight out of a snuff film. I can't imagine what kind of violence this game would need to get censored for it.

Plenty of violent games being censored in this list.

[Alantor32]

Nope.

[Japanime_Gamer]

Boycotting a complete system based on censorship in a video game is silly. Especially when all systems are doing it in their own way anyway.

 

Best to just stop playing games altogether if it matters that much, censorship is everywhere so probably best to stop watching TV, listening to the radio... living...

 

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by Japanime_Gamer
I censored my reply, or did i? :)

[SnowxSakura]

There's no consistency with people. They want games to be considered art, but at the same time they get upset if works of art get censored. You can't have it both ways

[BlackTorito]

Censorship is decided on a region basis, and it’s not exclusive to a platform.
 

The brand is mostly deciding what would fit the most on a certain region to sell better (or abiding the laws in some regions). If you want to blame someone, then you should blame either the society (in wich case, you have to accept not everybody is going to think like you) or dictatorial governments.

 

[N1NJ4_V4MP1R3]

Red flag for me when people say “SJWs” as some kind of derogatory.

 

What’s wrong with social justice?

[sporty_chin8]

Nope. I don't play on xbox. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I do agree that censorship is bad and I am really tired of these SJW’s ruining the industry and trying to make everything more progressive, however I don’t think buying their competitors next gen console is the answer. 

[YROSHIKU]

I don't think I'm gonna switch to Microsoft anytime soon, maybe Nintendo if they'll release "Pro version" of their console, but most likely I'm just gonna try to save up and get a decent PC, since it's an ultimate middle finger to censorship and SJW twats. But yeah I think the whole censorship it's the main reason why I'm not interested in Soyny's upcoming console or any that they will release in the future, because hey, fuck those hypocritical censoring cock suckers. Especially after the shit they allowed NaughtyDog with their colossal clusterfuck that they've released this year.

Edited October 11, 2020 by YROSHIKU

[HuntingFever]

I bought a Switch because of Sony's ridiculous censorship polices and I'm sorely tempted to get the next Xbox as well if things don't improve.

[MandA60VISE]

I still don't understand America's, "Sex is bad," stance. Sex is the whole reason any of us are here. Proper sex education is actually more helpful to younger people than being vague about it or outright telling them lies. Sex is simply part of human nature. Even if you remove the video game boobs horny youngsters are still going to find a way to look at porngraphic material anyways.

[Golem25]

Sadly there are a few replies in this thread that seem to have it out for Japanese games and the people that enjoy them - and I know for a fact that we have quite a few of them in this fine community. One poster stoops as low as suggesting people worried about censorship should get a girlfriend.

 

Now I happen to have a lovely girlfriend, but she's not an anime girl and doesn't give my a Bronze sticker whenever I make her ten cups of tea or rub her back so what's a lad to do, right? It's also a bit insulting to insinuate that people only play certain games for the cleavage and for no other reason whatsoever.

 

Censorship is indubitably bad; in video games and elsewhere. Be it blood and gore, iconography (rising sun, Swastika), politics (Yakuza 6 localization tried to downplay Taiwan's independence) or, indeed, cleavage - everyone should be free to peruse the developers' original intentions and partake in content that one, as a player/consumer, finds pleasing as long as this practice conforms to the law of the land. Trying to imbue standards of modesty and purity and the purging of wrongthink is well within the rights and power of Sony as a platform holder, but detrimental to its customers - no matter how few are affected.

 

The hostile reaction that anime games and their fans have received in the thread so far is disheartening; I would have hoped for a little more solidarity among peers, and that's coming from someone who has a grand total of three tiddie games in his library of 100+ titles. To those that seem incapable (or just unwilling) to lend some sympathy, Sony playing judge, jury, and executioner regarding content might not impact you currently, but it does create a dangerous precedent that one day might just encroach on something you do enjoy. Hopefully, when that day comes (and it will), we can be a little more supportive of one another across the entire community, rather than dab on others who see their favourite games be cut up or even outright cancelled for a cheap upvote.

 

 

To loop around back to the opening post, looking at my gamercard I have 4,220 reasons not to leave Sony at the time of writing. Yes, it's a novel take on the age-old sunk cost fallacy, but i's simply how I feel - as long as popping Trophies gives me enjoyment, I will continue to inhabit Sony's ecosystem. Albeit with a strong reliance on used physical copies and the Turkey trick, because the company's recent behaviour has made me hesitant to spend more than the bare minimum to keep my hunting going.

Edited October 11, 2020 by Golem25

[AJ_Radio]

2 hours ago, DaivRules said:

Sesame Street episodes considered safe for Everyone in the early seasons were re-rated only safe for Teens and above when they were packaged to be released for DVDs later on.

 

That's because Sesame Street had practices that people today would regard as offensive and often unacceptable. Shows a decade earlier in the so called 'golden era' (which it really wasn't) had grown ups smoking cigarettes, most of everybody smoked and you had smoking commercials which were eventually banned because they help contribute to a decline in one's health.

 

Censorship in America has a long and storied history. The covering of boobs and filtering sexual content has always been a thing in the United States, we have enough prudes to have this still be a thing even after all this time. I just don't have to agree with them, because their idea of what should be censored is frankly stupid.

 

I find much of it to be silly to be honest. Let grown up adults watch what they want. Let them play anime games that have girls showing off tits and asses. How Sony has handled its censoring when Xbox, Steam and Switch have allowed certain games to be on their platforms speaks a lot in regards to what Sony has been doing.

 

Not a big deal if you're not into anime stuff, but for those who are this is a bit frustrating.