Sony Japan President Says Ps4 Censorship Policy Is To Match Global Standards And Protect Kids

“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].”

[AspiringProGenji]

We'll see how this plays out in the future. personally I am not concerned at least yet

[SegaGamer]

Ignore it now and it will only get worse.

[AspiringProGenji]

True but it seems they are only doing this with niche Japanese games

[Obscure_Observer]

"Protect Kids" :/

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

All of a sudden, I get the feeling that PC gaming will become even more popular in Japan now. I'm very disappointed in Sony right now.

[Aeery]

It's pretty obvious this is only an excuse for something they don't want to share.
Sony, this is big brother all around and don't be arrogant thinking you should replace parents.

Do not go full retard with this crap ...

[S2Killinit]

Well, how do the other console manufacturers deal with this type of situation?

[VariantAEC]

@S2Killinit
Nah man obviously we can't worry about that right now. It's trendy to hate on Playstation again!
Seriously Nintendo and Microsoft will be forced to do the same if this is the result of SJWs. Just look what happened to Steam a few earlier this year.
People have really short attention spans these days.

[annoyedgamer]

That's how it starts. American moralism is effectively pervasive. Our art is censored starting with the imagination. The stories are already cleaned of sexual content. You will notice that violence is not on the chopping block.

Morita is literally parroting one of the oldest American excuses for moralism in the book.."for the children"

I am an American by birth, born and lived here. Trust me when I warn you, he is copying American moralism and is is going to ruin them.

[Nitrowolf2]

Lol they used the same excuse with cross-play about the reason it not there was to protect the children

This seems so weird to me. I’m not into these games at all (well I started Catherine if that counts) but yet Sony’s major titles are rated m titles filled with excessive gore and language. Even if they are rated M, they are exposed to tons of kids out there.

Heck, as someone who works in people homes, from time to time I’ll run into maybe an 8 years old swearing and yelling over the mic playing fortnite.

It’s such a hypocritical response, especially when you have a f2p shooter where you have zero control over monitor what people do in it.

To me, this responsibility should fall on the parent.

This will have a trickle effect, especially in Japan

[Rude-ro]

😂
And your point is backed up by what? Not history or reality.
More foul language allowed on national tv.
Half naked people.
Topics of any kind.
2-livecrew? Do not remember them ever getting “censored”.
Adding age restrictions to things, but that is not censorship.
Hyporebole by the very definition unless you can actually provide how “censorship” has ruined things.
And once again, age restrictions is not censorship

[Gameseeker_Frampt]

I'd take American moralism over Japanese moralism any day. It is amusing watching you get all upset and defend a country that censors its pornography. Japan created hentai and all of its other weird fetishes to get around the fact that it is illegal to see genitalia in pornography.

[rainslacker]

*Meanwhile on Game of Thrones

Seriously, this perception that western, or American media is somehow against sex or sexual content is just wrong. There's a lot of stupid social media criticism about it, but some of the most popular shows on TV, or now streaming services, are full of provocative content.

Games get more attention for this kind of crap, because it can't seem to shake that stigma that its some kind of kids toy. But Sony knows as well as anyone that the average age of gamers is over 30, and the vast majority of gamers are actually over 25.

[darthv72]

Protect kids.... wasnt that a reason for no crossplay as well?

[Asuka]

I can tell you how the future plays out. With me not buying anything PlayStation if this continues.

Censorship = no buy.

What really urks me is the whole "protect" the kids crap. Piss off

[gamer7804]

thats a pretty terrible standard, just wait until it becomes a massive problem, as there are already changes being made to games on one console and not others.

[CaptainObvious878]

"global standards"? What global standards? Who exactly is the authority setting these "standards"? Oh, you mean the sexist, authoritarian SJW journalist that hate gaming, hate their audience, constantly demonise the male gamers at every opportunity and don't actually buy your products? You mean those hateful people?

Also, there's already something in place protecting children. It's called THE FING RATINGS SYSTEM!

I'm a big soyney fan, but this is really pissing me off.

[Christopher]

Question: is the choice to either publish at a higher rating (18+/AO rating) or is Sony forcing censorship on even those games? I mean, I'd understand wanting age ratings to matter, but is Sony outright just saying not to AO at this point or are people unwilling to have their games upped to certain ratings in general?

[dumahim]

It isn't about AO. Nintendo has been letting stuff get through that Sony is having censored.

[Christopher]

@dumahim: What I mean is to say is Sony requiring an AO rating for something that others might not require as such or is it just straight up censorship without regard to ratings at all?

[gangsta_red]

Imo it has everything to do with the type of games they're enforcing this type of censorship on. (Something I don't see a lot of comments mentioning)

Most of these games that have this censorship feature women that look underage or some type of game play where having the player perform acts on them while they look distressed.

It's that strange creepiness that can really only be found in a lot of Japanese coulture that people in other countries probably wouldn't understand or may find offensive.

With PS4 being more of a world wide brand and a lot of these games being sold over seas, Sony probably doesn't want these types of games to get a huge amount of attention.

These types of games were abundant on Vita but since it was a failed device Sony didn't mind as it provided filler they didn't provide themselves. PS4 on the hand is a completely different story.

[gamer7804]

It's not about AO ratings, it's self censorship, these games would still be rated M like their predecessors that used to be allowed

[Muzikguy]

I don't like this and I don't like their response to it. There are ratings for a reason. It's not Sony's job to protect kids this is just some excuse to some other answer they don't want to say. They need to change this stance or it will not be pretty for them. Bad publicity right here. I don't see it changing but it needs to

[ginganinja]

The thing is there are different ratings regulations in different countries. If a game satisfies as many of those regulations from the start then less changes are going to be needed later on.
It means it'll be cheaper in the long run for a small dev to sell to a wider market - and wont be met with 'oh god it's ruined, they had to cut those 2 seconds, I'm not buying it anymore.'

And anyway, like anything, things change and having boundaries means you have something to push against. I'm sure folks have not jerked off to their last anime tit.

[BVFTW]

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Sony is not the taste police, we already have a rating system and parental control, however, they can improve their PSN online market in a way that people can tailor their experience choosing what kind of content they want to see advertised on the market, for example, either if you are offended with adult material or you're setting up a kids account, you should be able to choose to block the kind of material you consider "sensible". That way, everybody wins. The same could be said with the games, through your console "Content options" so flip a switch and you'll experience the rated or the unrated version of a mature or adult game.

It's a shame that the actual approach is anti-consumer and enforcing the taste and political views of whoever is in charge of reviewing the game. That makes them look hypocrite as the last of us 2 (game that I'm looking forward) is guilty of a lot of thing of depicting a lot of tropes that can hurt the sensibilities of a lot of people, and Sony advertises that game every time they can.

Double standards are not cool. Or we stand together or we see this spreading and becoming more and more common on other platforms.

[SegaGamer]

Protect kids?.........that has to be one of the most laughable excuses I have ever heard, especially when you have murder, terrorism, drug use and swearing in pretty much every major game. Sony themselves create games that have all of these things. Bloody hypocrites.

[gamer7804]

DING DING, THIS ^

[rainslacker]

That's what I think.

I really hope this blows up in their face. I want to see a huge push by the community directed at Sony. I want their paying customers to actually go and make a fuss. We're more important than these global standards which don't even exist.

They are trying to placate these social media a**holes who don't buy their games and give them grief over the games over these games. But they're still going to get it for the content they themselves make, and anyone really think they're going to tell R* that they can't put this content on their system? LOL, yeah sure, R* is one of the few publishers which would destroy them in the press, because unlike Bethesda, they have real influence.

Sony are going to be hypocritical here. It's going to happen. It's already happening. Sony has never shied away from violence, gore, or nudity/sexual content on its system, so this sudden change seems aimed more at a specific kind of game, but I bet people won't be so happy when it happens with a western game where people can't just say its kiddie porn. But $10 says they don't do that, because they know better, and those niche games which sell 100K copies aren't as important as the ones that sell in the millions, because no one really pays that much attention to these niche games.

This kind of sh*t pisses me off, so here's hoping that people actually fight this. They've criticized Sony over some of the stupidest sh*t this gen which didn't matter one bit, but now they have something really worth taking Sony to task over, and its barely getting any press.

[dumahim]

Gotta protect them from nipples. That's why cell phones were invented. To keep them from looking down at their own chest out of boredom.

[sscamaro2010]

Forgive me, but that is what communists use to advance their agenda.

[Segata]

I remember as a kid and I mean like 5th grade we called one another a c**ksucker and said F**k a lot. Real kids swear. It happens. Nothing will stop that. Sony is fooling themselves with that comment.

[Switch4One]

Protect kids? Isn't that what age restrictions on games are for?

[FlyingFoxy]

Nobody pays attention to age ratings, evident by hearing kids screaming over mics in mature rated games. A lot of double standards going on in the comments on this site.

[Asuka]

The burden is then placed on the authority figure for said child. The ESRB did their job. Parents, or people for that matter, need to stop blaming everyone/everything else and start taking some responsibility for their shortcomings. Be it parenting or what have you. If you choose not to heed warnings or ratings that are clearly there for you to make informed decisions, but instead insist on remaining ignorant you only have yourself to blame.

[DJStotty]

Thats where parenting standards come into place. If parents want their kids to play games they shouldnt so be it.

[RizBiz]

I saw a Reddit post last week about some wanker talking about his 8-year-old kid playing Fortnite. Terrible parents don't care about age ratings.
That being said, it isn't the publisher's job to censor content, it's the parent's job to keep mature content out of the hands of children.

[pcz]

Videogames as an art form is still in its infancy. Obviously gaming is still something that is considered to be mainly for children.

[on_line_forever]

How you get all these likes on your comment ? This not normal at all

I agree with Sony we need to protect kid's

[ocelot07]

Yup that is exactly what it's for. But sadly parents these days don't care what there kids play. They only take notice when something bad happens and instead of taking the blame they blame the game THEY allowed there child to play spite the age restriction.

I don't agree with Sony doing this. They should not have to be parents for every kid that owns a playstation.

[Aura7541]

"Oh won't anyone please think of the children!" is the laziest excuse I've heard for censorship. I'm not sure if Sony is being completely incompetent or using that excuse to handwave away the legitimate criticisms against their policy.

There's a far simpler way to tackle the children 'issue'. You simply make sure the parents know how to make educated purchases so that their kids don't end up playing games with content not fit for them. This is what Nintendo did following up to the Switch's launch: https://www.youtube.com/wat...

It is a perfect solution? No. However, it's far more efficient and less overbearing than the solution Sony is pulling.

[ninsigma]

Aren't the games in question not for kids?? Once you've put the appropriate age rating on the box as dictated by the age rating board then your responsibility is done. Don't start this BS of telling developers what can and can't be in their games.

[Aura7541]

It's a very contradictory statement by Sony. The games that they have been censoring have/will have an M rating in NA or a C (15+)/D (17+) rating in Japan. How can their censorship policy's purpose be to protect kids when the games that are hit by the policy aren't even made for children in the first place?

[KingKionic]

Here at playstation we run a nursery.

We have several soyboys on attendance.

[Protagonist]

"soyboys"? Let me guess you are one of those insecure fellas who thinks eating soy makes you grow Titties right ;)))

Anyway censorship sucks.. let games be games and if it is for adults the put an age restrictions sticker on it.. simple.

[RedDevils]

We all has tits, but not boobs :D

[meka2611]

Soy contains estrogen, so yea it will make you feminine.

[FallenAngel1984]

Quit trying to act like everyone’s parents

[michellelynn0976]

Not buying it. There are ratings for a reason, they help gamers pick the games that are suitable for them and their family.

[Protagonist]

Nintendo censors all political and sexual behavior in their games.. stop it you hypocrite!

[dumahim]

Not anymore. They're letting stuff go uncensored on Switch where the same content is getting covered up or cut out of the PS4 version.
https://static.gamespot.com...

[michellelynn0976]

No they don't, this isn't the 90s anymore. Sony is censoring games and you don't want to admit it. Remember BMX XXX? Who censored the nudity? Sony did.

[gamer7804]

In THEIR games, not the entire platform and overseas games as well like sony is.

[Relientk77]

Kids don't buy niche Japanese games though...

[Imalwaysright]

Hey Sony https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[CobraKai]

I can parent my own kids. Thank you very much.

[Yi-Long]

The gaming industry needs to get rid of conservative scared old men who don't understand the concept of making products for a mature audience, who should have a free choice about what kind of content they would like to purchase or not...

[mezati99]

Fuck off

[1-pwnsause-1]

that is a stupid excuse and its an excuse that can screw em over in the future

[Platformgamer]

censorship is stupid, no excuses.
as for the "think about the children" bullshit, games have adviced age restrictions like pegi or ersb, parents should just see those

[Asuka]

Don't give me this "protect kids" crap again ffs. It's exactly what you said about crossplay.

I don't care how good Sony has been, but if this is what the future is looking like it is a no buy from me. Full stop.

[plmkoh]

Yeah this just doesn't fly.

[Imalwaysright]

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

The first time I saw this trailer, when they broke the girl's arm it actually made me not want to look at the screen and I'm 32 years old. Is Sony also goint to start censoring their own 1st party games to protect the children or doesn't violence count in their quest to become the world's nanny?

[rainslacker]

Waiting for GTA to be censored. But we all know that isn't going to happen. Sony isn't so stupid to bring that much attention to this policy, and you know R* just making a simple statement, not even trying to openly to bring Sony down, would bring the entire internet down upon them.

We all know this is going to be implemented with extreme bias. They haven't even stated specifically what is appropriate and what isn't publicly. Maybe they should, so at least people can make an informed decision on if it will affect them negatively. As it is now, it just seems like for sexual content, and even nudity with no specific regulations on what one can put in the game. Hell, i have access to the compliance standards of Sony, and I can't even find this specific information. Outside explicit sex, a certain amount of implied sex scenes which last over a certain amount of time, and certain kinds of nudity, there is nothing that specifies what can't be in the games.

[flak]

From some of the videos I've seen then good. Video games are not meant to be soft porn like with under age looking characters, it's wierd.

[Yi-Long]

Why are video games not meant to be soft-porn?

Serious question.

You have soft-porn books. You have soft-porn TV shows and movies. You have soft-porn board-games. You have soft-porn toys. You have soft-porn cartoons/anime. You have soft-porn comics. Etc etc.

So why exactly do you feel there shouldn't be any soft-core porn video games? Because YOU still equate video games as being a medium primarily aimed at kids and teens?

I'm 42. Most gamers are over 30 years old. And mature gamers are also the gamers who spend the most money on gaming, as opposed to children and teens, simply because they have far more disposable income.

So please explain to me why one genre (soft porn) should be complete banned/censored from this medium?

And why the selective moral outrage of depicting underage looking characters in sexual relationships, but not about fictional underage characters who are depicted in extremely violent situations, either as a victim, or as the aggressor (or both...)

How about simply not buying something YOU don't like, but allowing others the freedom to make that decision for themselves, instead of imposing that decision upon them through bans and censorship...?

[Rachel_Alucard]

Terrible logic, I'll just go on steam and not deal with people hoping for sterilization of the medium. Even if Steam has a few bad seeds running the show, I'll just go on DLsite instead to not deal with companies acting as parents. Once you guys can make your own decisions instead of relying on others to choose for you, then the world will progress.

[rainslacker]

Which videos would those be? What about the games which don't feature characters who look to young? Like Dead or Alive. Grand Theft Auto. God of War before this gen. The Order 1886. Atelier games. Any number of JRPG's with some level of fan service which is pretty tame overall.

This policy isn't just affecting "kiddie porn" games. If that's all it was, I probably wouldn't be making a big deal about it, even though I have played some of those games and it's never as bad as the articles make it seem, nor are they usually kids, and most of those games don't even come to the west and the content in them is acceptable in the regions they release in.

That said, video games can be soft core porn if they want to be. There is a whole sub-genre of that kind of thing on PC. There are even hard core porn games. I could say games aren't meant to be violent murder simulators, and I'd be just as wrong as you are about games. Games can be many things. You may not like some of those things, but it doesn't mean that games can't be them.

To anyone saying that these games are porn, consider that I can get porn easier on the PC, phone, or any number of TV apps, than I can from video games not on PC. And I'm certainly not going to pay money for a game that isn't good just because its porn, and neither is any kid out there. There is no reason to, because its free practically everywhere.

[Elda]

I agree especially knowing gaming consoles are for kids too but there are pervs that want that type of stuff in games & I don't blame Sony for not wanting it on their systems.Folks that want to play soft porn or perv looking games can just play it on PC plain & simple knowing most folks don't care about that mess & Sony hindering this it will in no way stop the Playstation brand from selling it's consoles.

[Dan50]

M, Z and 18 rated games are NOT for kids!!!!!!!

[sazselesbon]

The same excuse for don't implement crossplay at first

[BlahBlahWhatever]

There is organizations that rate the appropriate age of each game if a game have content not suitable for small kids then the parents need to do their job & keep their kids away from those games, we don't need SONY or any other company to tell us what adults can or can't play, censoring is the worst cancer of our age & anyone who promote censoring in any way need to get a message that we won't accept that & as long they continue these disgusting practices of censoring & removing content from games with such silly excuse like "it's for the kids..." then we won't purchase any longer any product of those companies because the only way to make them get the message is to hurt them were they hurt the most, on their pockets, that's the only thing those in high places understand, money.

So if any of you want to help put a stop on censoring that's the only way to help, boycott those moth@fckers, stop buying anything from them until they reconsider & acknowledge that there is adults gamers also & we as the devs who made those games we want them to stay uncensored because they were made for adults & not small kids, it's like censoring an R-rated movie in cinema because a small kid might watch it at some point, how stupid that sound?

Better wake up SONY or the next gen you are gonna die a slow & painful death, continue like that & your loss is inevitable, but in case you decide to continue this I will be the first to happily see you go down.

[Knightofelemia]

So for example a game like Mortal Kombat with their violent finishing moves is not censored but a game with bouncing anime boobs gets censored . This move will bite Sony in the ass hard and fast so my free choice on what games I decide to throw on my machine does not count anymore. I like Sony I always chose their machine to throw some of the weird anime games on because Xbox will rarely get them and Nintendo were anal on the censoring. Only choices now are Xbox if Microsoft can wrangle the game for Xbox, hope the Switch gets the title and they don't choose to censor the game and Steam.

[Rachel_Alucard]

They are trying to apply a "western standard" where Japan gets treated like shit and heavy restrictions are imposed to scare them away from the platform. They want their console to be some hollywood cinematic movie shit and it's just gonna damage the brand next gen. From the leaks they are just repeating things that caused the Xbone to fail and combine that with this and it's not looking good.

[Xaevi]

won't someone please think about the children? the children that have grown ass parents that can take responsibility, the children who don't need to be protected from all the horrors of the real world that they'll be exposed to anyway. I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one that remembers being a kid. cause half of the stuff that's being censored I grew up with and me and my generation seem to be perfectly fine...

[Majinzo]

Protect your pocket Sony..

[Silly gameAr]

Let's get em guys.

[Switch4One]

Aaah there he is. Loyal no matter what. Never says a single word against Sony. Your reward will come faithful acolyte.

[Natsuluk]

F Sony. This is stiupid

[Switch4One]

But F is for respect in gaming so...?

[GrizToof]

Sony your making me sick right now, games should be made for anyone and everyone. If someone wants to make a game with a bunch of jiggly boobs in it then they should have every right too. I know has Sony also has the right to choose what content gets sold on their platform but the problem is there isn't that many platforms to choose from, so once one goes down you lost a lot.

[gamer7804]

wait a second, I thought it was the parents job with the help of movie, tv, and game ratings to protect their children as its their job to raise them... so this and crossplay with only select games is their two-pronged approach to protecting children...

[Mylove1516]

Its on the ESRB and responsible parents to protect children from adult themes and mature content, not you sony.

[moralsup]

Cant help but laugh at the weebs crying, because anime boobs are censored.

[Elda]

Pretty much.

[Elda]

I have no problem with this at all knowing Sony is doing this for their gaming console & gaming consoles have the interest of kids to adults.There's enough games out to play with adult content & imo it doesn't need to get anymore extreme to the point where a game needs an X rating.

[Gazondaily]

LOL!

[madjedi]

So a video game where you go around and bust a nut in ancient greek women and very brutally murder both the gods and titans as well use human sacrifices to achieve your end goals is not extreme to you.

People like you are the reason sony is engaging in this flamingly hypocritical bullshit moralism, too many jack boot licking leftists pushing their religion of controlling every aspect of the populations lives in their bid for control are involved in the industry now..

There is no difference between you and the religious right in the early 90's-2000's warning of the dangers of violent video games.

Just curious is there any aspect of society/hobby you people won't fuck up, in the quest for ever more power/control and no fun allowed for the normies.

[Elda]

LMAO! Whatever girl... opinions opinions everyone has one.

[Dom_Estos]

Protecting children, eh?

From the company that sells smart phones, of which a lot of kids have and use, and can watch porn or brutal beheading videos should they be curious enough. Protect children in today's world? Fucking impossible.

[Tross]

Right. As we all know, good things happen when we let Americans dictate "global standards". /s Here's an idea: how about parents start taking responsibility and stop letting their kids play games that aren't intended for them. By that logic mature content should be censored in tv, movies, books, etc., because there are more avenues for said content than just games, and the only way to truly shield the children from it is to ensure it doesn't exist in any medium. But, if parents just put their foot down and set rules on what media their kids can consume, they can shield them from certain things while allowing the actual intended audience to enjoy it.

This new policy also strikes me as a pretty racist double standard. Not only do Japanese devs have to inquire about content for their games in English and on California business hours whether their games get localized or not, but it seems only Japanese games are affected. AC Odyssey and RDR 2 have worse stuff in them but anime girls in bikinis are simply not allowed. WTF?

[rainslacker]

Global standards? There is no such thing when it comes to provocative content. About the only thing that is actually banned globally is pedophilia. The rest is all regionally regulated by whatever laws exist, usually based on culture, society, or whatever their legislative bodies deem appropriate.

For games in particular, that's what ratings boards are for.

As far as protecting the kids, every region has ratings boards, and it's not Sony's job to protect the kids, that's what the parents are for, and the people who would hold Sony, or the developers responsible for their kids playing games which are rated as Mature or equivalent.

"Think of the children" is a philosophy that just needs to die. These games are able to pass the ratings boards standards for what is considered acceptable, and Sony is just taking it upon themselves to add additional policies which don't need to exist, and the standards don't exist which this is supposed to appease, and the children shouldn't be playing these games anyways.

Thinking of the kids means that the violence is next. Even somewhat provocative content is no good. Hell, Sony had the most watched gaming convention have a lesbian kiss, and violent kills all from the same character....but that's OK for the kids? Somehow, I doubt Sony is going to start whitewashing it's own content, but what about the kids?

This is a poor ass excuse from Sony, and they should just admit they don't want the backlash from the SJW crowd that comes along with some of these games where you get a few articles and a week of twitter rage which only makes them look bad among people who don't even game, or understand games or consumer choice.

Think of the kids is the same crap that was used to first try and get violent games banned, and it was as stupid then as it is now.

[Harkins1721]

Please change it back.

[lociefer]

I'm sorry, but what exactly is ESRB's role again? I thought they already " protected" kids by putting an age label on the box. And also the devs know their targets, if they were aiming for kids they would censor their game s but if you censor games that are NOT already meant for kids then wtf ?!

[timlot]

Sony knows best. I love Sony. Thanks for looking out for us.

[Tankbusta40]

Protect the children? Isn't that the parents job???

[AHall88]

Not in this day and age.

[Gamist2dot0]

Those days are gone. Parents these days like to point fingers and take no accountability. "My little angel would never do that." Smdh.

[Chaos-Dad]

Protect Kids? So no The last of Us 2.... its brutal!
-> KiddyStation 5

[XtaZ]

Sony is full of shit as usual.

[shadowraiserx]

Hypocrite, games with some kind of sex themes is bad for kids but they dont censor or control loot boxes and micro transactions to protect the kids.

[gangsta_red]

Good job Sony!

[AHall88]

Catherine Full Body might be my last PS exclusive if they stick to this BS policy.(And only if that doesn't get slapped with the censor hammer.)

[WitcheRivia]

RIP Sony.

[AK91]

Mr Morita you are making a big mistake, censorship is never the answer.

[Acecalibur]

Now they want to be Nintendo, and Nintendo isn't even doing this.

[Felix_Argyle_Catbro]

Since when has California set the global standards?

[KratosKonundrum]

California is the entertainment and social media capital of the world.

Why can't Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas compete with Cali? It's kinda Americans fault for letting California become so dominant.

[CrimsonWing69]

Ok so wtf are ratings for then!? Gratuitous violence is great for the kids, huh? Sony is stupid in their backward thinking, but oh well, it’s their god-given right to choose whatever crazy thing they want to. I’ll just have to move to a platform that doesn’t censor their games and buy exclusives only for Sony.

[Bhuahahaha]

lol as if those children 12 up doesnt have access to porn and hentai's

[PapaBop]

Well tbf he has a point.. boobs are dangerously persuasive and man's kryptonite. Still, we must protect our kids from a bit of boob but murder and taking drugs are perfectly acceptable concepts for our children kappa

[FungLip]

Sony always censors this kinda stuff since PS1. Dokyusei 2 is one example that I've personally played.

[Veneno]

The comments here are so ridiculous. Slippery slope this and Chicken Little that. You really think the president of Sony is going to steam roll this policy so that they censor everything? If so, there goes their audience.
The censorship is only for the XXX titles, or the titles that are close to it. The Hentai stuff.

But go on and keep soothsaying that we will soon live in a dystopian world where all expression becomes censored. All because of Sony!!!!!!!!!!

And I will bet 10 to 1 tbat the fools complaining about this are the same ones that havr a stick up their butts about the portrayal of Ellie in Last of Us 2 and want to see it go away. Make up your minds. Do you want censorship or not?

[trooper_]

I'm just laughing at the fake outrage. If Sony censored everything, it would kill sales, period.

[gamer7804]

Straw that breaks the camels back, it's already happening, you won't see it coming with views like this.

[trooper_]

Keep going with that fake outrage. Again, if Sony was doing this with all games, they would lose a lot of sales.

[gamer7804]

Is this large post all satirical? Sure hope so, good one!

[Veneno]

No not satirical . I believe the people flipping out over this are taking it way out of proportion.

[madjedi]

Yeah it's not like we have active proof of large media companies openly banning people for stating opinions their employee's disagree with, or taking down their video's or digitally erasing them from various social media platforms, despite not violating the sites terms of service.

Have you been under a rock the last 3-4 years, or are you simply that damn stupid. all this is related. Shutting down of free speech, pushing artists or devs to self censor their work, and threating to lock people up for saying something offensive about protected classes in Europe.

And you think people are blowing it way out of proportion, maybe if various governments and corporations around the world weren't acting like borderline facist regimes, you might have an argument veneno.

[rainslacker]

This policy is already affecting games which are nowhere near XXX in nature. Sony already doesn't allow AO rated(or equivalent) titles on the system. None of the console manufacturers do. It tends to work out, because retail won't carry those games anyhow.

The games they're applying this to already are games which receive a mature rating and have no actual depictions of sex or full nudity in them. With one exception where the anime has plenty of nude fan service, but the sexual parts are merely implied innuendo.

I'm not against preventing reasonable limits on content, but I'm against the console maker setting additional standards across the board, and worldwide on content that falls within what has been acceptable for several decades now. If devs want to censor for a localization, that's on them. But in this case, Sony isn't even giving them the choice.

@Trooper

And the problem is is that they're being very selective in what they're censoring, which is Japanese games which offer up too much fan service for their tastes. Regardless of if that fan service is over the line or not. I can think of many Japanese anime games which offer up fan service, which would be censored by this policy. Persona, Atelier games, Maybe Valkyria Chronicles in their little asides,

These games aren't porn. They have provocative or suggestive content, but you can see worse on any given prime time TV show.

But Sony isn't going to censor the big devs, they're censoring those devs which have much less market presence, and it's that hypocrisy which needs to be called out to show that Sony is just making up crap to avoid a group of people who don't even play these games giving them grief.

[Shikoku]

Ugh....WTF Sony. Just stop after 5 yrs of awesome games and making the right moves the last year you've been fucking up. Get it together.

[zahdab]

isnt that what parental controls are for ? are they censoring content on netflix ? movies tin the PlayStation store ? hulu ? nope ... they could never do that ... but they can bully game developers ... hypocrite policy

[CyberRekkr]

I'm all for protecting the kids!

[Casepb]

Think of the children! Seems like Nintendo Switch is less of a "kiddy console" than PS4 eh?

[CrystalFantasy3]

Stupid

[TheGamez100]

Ugh....the "protect kids" excuse...there are already tons of other media and the internet that exposes "things" in this world to them lol. Yet murdering and guns are completely fine. Its up to the parents to protect them from such things.

[Kiwi66]

Maybe Sony should change their motto from " for the players " to something like " protect the children "

[Segata]

2018 Sony has turned into 90s Nintendo.

[ghostrider32]

Old people ruin everything.

[gamer7804]

Not sure its old people to be honest, it's a mixture based mostly on political viewpoints or a false presumption of some kinds of supposed global standard fiction.

[VariantAEC]

I know this will comment will get ludicrous levels of hate, but ●●●● it!
Games are getting too perverse these days. Japan knows it, Sony in Japan knows it too and they don't want it on their platforms anymore. I'm not offended by this move. I hope they don't go too far with this sometimes games stories are meant to be provocative and I don't see Sony stopping that from happening but these chibi anime style butt slapping games (while hilarious and sometimes actually quite fun) are getting a bit ridiculous. It's not like sony are removing the old games that have this stuff they just aren't allowing so far one new game with the exact same mechanics.

With all that out of the way. If we find out that this was really the result of SJW meddling by westerns, I'm fully against this motion. Now why would I be against this "censorship" if it was initiated by the US and not Japan? Simple... SJWs! They're here to ruin gaming like they do everything else! If Sony is capitulating to Western SJW sensibilities then this is not just bad, it's insanely bad! You also know Nintendo won't be far behind. I mean did everyone just conveniently forget about what they did to Mii Park (or whatever it's called) adding in LGBT options because LGBT peeps complained. Nintendo also killed Swap Note because a few pedos used it to lure kids... Nintendo ain't gonna let jiggly boobies and buttocks last too long on their platforms if it receives any complaints mark my words.

[LoveSpuds]

This is simply the case of a platform holder distancing themselves from what is some really ropey content that, while culturally acceptable domestically, would be impossible to defend in the rest of the world. If the media in the UK got a hold of one of these dodgy games they would have a field day and really, there is no defense fo Sony.

Damned if they do, Damned it they don't and because they don't get as many of these paedo games, Xbox don't have to take a position on the issue.

[VariantAEC]

I think MS just blocks them these days and no one is the wiser. If memory serves DOA Beach Volleyball debuted on the Original Xbox after all.

[chris235]

BS. it is to protect yourself!

[solidossnakos]

When a game esrb is 18+, why would you implement mechanisms to protect kids

[goldwyncq]

#4TheChildren

[Inzo]

Global standard? Dont you mean the standard of the vocal minority? Besides, Isnt it the parents job to protect their kids?

These very kids they are trying to protect are in some game somewhere shooting another guy's head off. Like everything It touches PC is crippling the gaming industry.

[moomoo319]

This is not hard to figure out. A lot of japanese games are straight over the top with sexuality and infantilization, and as sony proper really shifts from japan to california they are going to curate PSN in line with american sensabilities. If sony chooses not to publish niche hypersexual anime games then so be it, i dont think this is a larger commentary on impending censorship doom.

Edit: Other option is PSN gets flooded by a bunch of huni-pop style anime cash grabs, which does nothing for the platform. PSN is curated and not the only platform out there, they dont have to sell every game in existence

[Scar-]

Exactly on top of that the games getting censored are niche that's why most gamers don't give a f***. Sony has very little reason to back down on this they are making money far far more money on bigger games these niche titles could never release on a Sony console again and I'm sure Sony wouldn't care. Whats weird to me is people are willing to accept censorship in movies,tv and music but some how porn games on playstation is the last straw??? If you listen to the radio you are accepting censorship same thing when you watch tv everything is edited and censored why can't parents make the kids watch children networks exclusively???

[BadElf]

Stop. No.

Japan was some of the last non PC gaming. Political Correctness will not go over well in the long run. We all hate it

[Veneno]

As adults we see this as being too PC because we can easily make our own chioces on what we consume. I can see that point. But I'd like to hear the viewpoint of someone who has children on this topic.

[BadElf]

"I wont let my kids play this" ?
or
"I'll let them play this M rated one, I did when I was 8...fug it"

[HaVoK308]

Globalist bullshit.

[stefd75]

I'm sure ratings on games protect the kids, its unfair that us adults have to have content censored because of the bloody kids.

[Veneno]

What people don't understand is that Sony Nintendo and Microsoft are platform holders. So they are responsible for what content goes on their platform. It's not like the movie 🎥 business where anyone can make anything they want.
They can censor whatever they want as it is within their right and prerogative.
Obviously they don't care about your kids. This is a move to protect their image.
If they allowed any kind of game to be made no matter how controversial the content it would ruin them as a gaming platform. I know that I would check out the lewdest of games if it was easily accessible for my PS4 just for the spectacle of it. As would many others, including kids.

Sony doesn't want the widespread attention to lewd games on their platform because that could happen so easily due to how accessible the Playstation brand of consoles are and damage their image.

Ultimately this move really only affects Japan. It seems that Japanese society is better adjusted to having lewd material exist side by side with the customary content. The rest of the world seems to differ greatly in this respect and would rather keep it all seperate. I don't believe either view is right or wrong. They are different solutions to the same situation.

[DJStotty]

thats what age ratings are for. Along with responsible parenting there is no need for censorship

[Pantz]

Let's censor mature rated games for kids... what???

[InKnight7s]

Indeed, I would like to protect my kids from sexual themes, but more importantly I would like first to eliminate these LBGT agenda and forcing it in games to make it look as a norm.

[Pantz]

So you're going to let your kids play these mature rated games with sexual themes now that they've been censored a little bit? They're still rated mature and still have sexual themes and are still not for kids.

[gamer7804]

you'd think once a company is on top, they'd realize what things help get them there and not screw it up. But it seems it never fails, I guess Sony is hoping that their customers won't be vocal about this particular issue and they can sweep it under the rug until their censorship becomes the norm...

[TheHan]

Well we know that already still upsets the community

[howiewowwee]

yah while they play gta v..i'm just saying.

[Veneno]

Microsoft need to capitalize on this fast! They must make all of their newly acquired studios pump out lewd Hentai games. This way they can boast that Xbox is the only console where you can play hentai games! Pitter Patter get at 'er Miscrosoft. Time's wasting!

[knickstr]

No, please dont become nintendo.

[Indigon]

The concerning games are super gross where you grope minors. Good riddance.

[ArnoDorian]

Lel wut

Protect the kids, shield them from all the recent mature audience games Sony been releasing!
The Last of Us 2
God Of War
Days Gone
Ghost of Tsushima
And such

[ginganinja]

Is this actually what was said, though, and is it in the correct context. This seems to be framed in a particular way for a particular purpose (to support the views of the credit url), especially as the rest of the google translated article is more or less, gibberish. Maybe that's why devs use localisation teams rather than just straight word for word translation..

[Enigma_2099]

Meanwhile devs still have to pay the ESRB to rate their games...

[AizenSosuke]

Protect kids, dude omg just stop your online chats are antithesis of this

[TimeSkipLuffy]

Please step down and make way for a gamer to lead the Playstation brand. Thank you.

[yomfweeee]

Bunch of retards in here. You're going to boycott Sony? Ya I'm sure you'll find these rape fantasy games on Xbox.

[ILostMyMind]

Ok. But these global standards do not exist in Japan. If Sony does not do it, others will and they will lose market in that country.

[ZaWarudo]

"Think of the children!"

*Proceeds to show insanely brutal The Last of Us 2 trailers.

[ILostMyMind]

So i can't see little tits but is allowed to me to see Trump speaking... This doesn't make sense.

[Smokehouse]

Yeah they are trying to ban menthol cigarettes here because “kids smoke menthols”. Sounds like an excuse to me. They don’t want to ban them they want to tax them, make them 20 dollars a pack to “protect the kids”. It’s a shame really, a scumbag tactic that assumes everyone’s ignorance.

I’m going to have to go to a drug dealer to buy menthol cigarettes and violent video games because the nanny state now has global standards. These people are a joke.

[FernDiggidy]

You want to protect kids from cleavage but not from violence and bad language? And aren't mature games not for kids, therefore censorship isn't needed?

Ass-backwards statement.

[WalkerFTW]

Here’s a grand idea.... stop buying the games that get censored

[_LarZen_]

Sony again with this “think of the children” bullshit?! You can buy uncensored ultra violent games but not ones with sexual content. And what do they both have in common? Age ratings. And still Sony want to play big brother...

[P_Bomb]

My kids don’t have jobs to buy games. I do, and as a grown ass man I don’t need your protection.

[Darkstorm6111]

But you dont protect kids from Lootboxes? violent games? sex in Witcher and mass effect? drugs?

[spartan112g]

This is the second time they’ve tried this same terrible excuse.

[pinkcrocodile75]

Protecting children is the job of any parent. It's got nothing to do with Sony or any other content provider.

I have no idea why any corporation shy's away from telling parents to do their f@cking job.

[Enturax]

Sony: "...But mental illnesses are completely okay - being gay or transgender is more natural than having nipples."

[Sirk7x]

I wouldn't take anything from Google Translate too seriously. It is a very poorly translated article.

[Vetgamer]

Shut all your studios stop the majority of 3rd party games, pay Nintendo to make all your games. Censorship complete. Pc and Xbox are in for a treat if they take it to far.

[Fritzwochel]

Because a little boob jiggle and a cleavage can wreck a kid for life.

[Doomster1971]

I wonder if this includes loot boxes in games? Child gambling has skyrocketed here in the UK in the last two years (since the beginning of loot boxes being included in popular full price games).

[CertifiedGamer]

Sony must be confusing itself with Nintendo. If Microsoft plays it's cards right then it can do what WWF did to WCW back in the attitude era. I love my PS4 but I wonder where how this decision will affect the next playstation.

[megaleo009]

Tell me something new,ps1 in middle age,ps2,ps3 and now ps4 have policy about that,again,tell something new,for that reason exist rating letters.

[Gravesinger_]

This is what happens when you are the top dawg in your industry for quite some time, you start letting that ish go to your head. $ony needs to get it together.

[James Vanderbeek]

Liberals will find away to ruin gaming. Just watch. I remember call of duty 4 got crap for showing your kills to death. it hurt peoples feelings or something haha.