Farewell Sony: I'm Loyal to the Experience, Not the Platform

Hey Poor Player's Benny Carrillo writes: "For over the last ten years I've been an avid PlayStation gamer. But now, Sony thinks that it's time for a change when it comes to niche gaming. Turns out, I think so too."

[Gazondaily]

A bit extreme no?

[SpaceRanger]

No kidding. I get being bothered by the censorship of the “intimacy” nonsense, if that’s their thing. But they could just easily play it on another console if it’s thag much of a bother. No longer playing on that platform because there’s censorship on intimacy is a little over dramatic in my opinion.

[Nyxus]

Yeah, why not buy those censored games on another platform, while still playing other PS4 games on the system? That would at least align with his vision to be 'loyal to the experience, not the platform'.

[BVFTW]

It's a matter of principles to some people, everyone's is entitled to have an opinion and is his right to follow his values and choose his own decision, heck he can even share his points of view and why he's doing that, I'm an old time born and rise 80s gamer, I've seen that every kind of censorship start small, like Nintendo in the 80s, they mandated the change of crosses for hearts on the churches in early final fantasy games 'cause religion, banned the name Hitler in Bionic commando 'cause sensibilities (even though nowadays is freaking cool to blow Nazis in games and call Nazi everyone who doesn't share some extreme political opinions), and ultimately those policies they enforced became so draconian that entire plots of games where changed (for the worst) and even the first Mortal Kombat was forced to be modified so it ended up releasing on the Snes without the freaking blood, Mortal Kombat!! Then, rival companies like Sega gave more freedom to developers and Nintendo pulled some strings to take them to court and all of this ended up backfiring and putting a stigmata on Nintendo's image for lots and lots of years. It's funny that the PlayStation brand began as the new cool kid in town aiming for adult gamers and niche gamers with one of the greatest catalogues in the history of gaming and now they are the ones getting behind in the times.

This is the worst part of the 90s all over again... I'm also planning to vote with my wallet and will buy used until I see this madness end before it gets worse, everything can be resolved with better parental controls and putting content controls in the hand of the users, Sony can just make a goddam option in the setting menu to hide adult content in the PSN market.

[Eonjay]

Quick vote: Who here puts a game in their PS4 (or any console for that matter) solely for the purposes of getting off? Don't be shy.

[SpaceRanger]

It has nothing to do with principles. They need to remember that these gamers are “niche” and that they don’t have the same influence on the market as larger communities. Doesn’t make it or them more right or wrong, but it’s the truth. If the company moves in that direction and 2% of their fanbase has an outcry, then it’s not a big deal. If it was a change that bothered 50% of the fanbase, of course it’s a big deal to them that will have influence for change.

As a side note on “principles”. Someone who gets off to a game with intimacy gameplay clearly has “principles” that don’t align with the vast majority of gamers.

[BVFTW]

Freedom of speech and not taking choices out of the hand of people nor deciding what is best for others is also a matter of principles, I may not share the same taste for otaku content as those guys but I'm against censorship, those games are for adults, and games like Last of Us 2 has strong content as well, not the same category, I know, but the game was promoted on a lot of public events and streams that kids watch so feeding the line of "think about the children" is hypocrite and is coming as a pitiful excuse. It's all about politics and enforcing control for some people, Dead or Alive is a franchise that has a lot of "fan service" and it's the center of political discussions every time it roses its ugly head off with changes to please the sensibilities of political nutjobs and all that bs while at the same time Tecmo puts on sale japan the special editions of the game has the "titties mouse pads" included.

I don't care if people get off with anime, games or freaking pans (I'm taking the "pan-sexual" angle to literal heights :D), but no one should take your right to choose what kind of content you consume, and giving the lame excuse that they do it for kids (in the days we have ESRB and parental controls) just to ban content that some of them don't like is plain wrong. One could say that enforcing their opinions and abusing of their power is how "they get off".

[Muzikguy]

This censorship thing is a bad idea on Sony’s part. I hope they’re listening

[iofhua]

Not everyone is Mr. Moneybags and get to have all the consoles each generation. This gen all I'm going to have is a Switch. I picked the Switch for two reasons: I like Nintendo IP and they are allowing mature content like Senran Kagura, Gal Gun, and others. I want the best bang for my buck and if I'm going to pick a platform I want a broad array of games to choose from.

If you're going to only have one console, you want the one which gives you a broad array of games to chose from so you get the best bang for your buck. Censoring games on your platform is a great way to shoot yourself in the foot.

I think this is going to have a substantial impact on sales this gen.

[nodim]

Because Intimacy nonsense is a tip of the iceberg. Sony now censors basically every second Japanese game, most during the development. Catherine will now be a shell of what it should have been, as "stealthily" confirmed by the developers. It's the literal start of the age of oppression, I'm not sure why anyone still harbours any goodwill towards Sony. Maybe they are just yet to see the sheer amount of the looming horror.

[dumahim]

Yeah. With the volume of Sony exclusives, I don't really see myself giving up on them, but I'm really hoping MS doesn't follow suit and I'll likely be more open to getting games on their system next-gen.

[HeavyM]

I am against Sony's new censorship but I will not abandon the platform because of this, mainly because of the exclusive games, the only thing I will do is not to buy Japanese games on Sony platforms, I will leave them for Switch and PC .

[trouble_bubble]

Even that. Why hurt yourself? No one cares that Internet Stranger made an Internet Stand to not play Yakuza 6 until 2025, or Death Stranding ever.

These concern articles make me laugh. So he platinumed 16 weabo games this year and thinks he’s gonna do the same on that Xbox he posted a picture of? Good luck

[neutralgamer1992]

Some of those games won't come to pc or other platforms. This doesn't bother me they have to do what's right for their brand. This issue doesn't affect 98% of gamers so no company really cares about vocal 2%

In this day and age every company is trying to be politically correct because of backlash from media and loss of investers

[RememberThe357]

I don't go to Walmart because they don't have porn in their magazine OR Blu-ray section... Fascists...

[notachance]

weird thing is, if he's so fond of visual novel genre / niche anime games, why not go to PC in the first place?
It's the go-to platform for that kind of games: lots of fan translations for unlocalized games, "adult" patch readily available if you don't want any censorship, practically every VN's default platform..
Hell, I don't really identify as an "otaku" but seeing from his list, I've read many more VN than he does...

[neutralgamer1992]

Now a days people will complain about everything regardless of how much they care or don't care

[gamer7804]

funny, valve started that stance as well, you have to fight these practice when they rear their heads otherwise they try to make It the norm. Luckily on valves behalf there was backlash and they made the right decision. We can only hope that Sony does the same, regardless about the particular content being censored. Put an appropriate age range on it and don't belittle your audience into thinking a company knows what they should be playing.

[Cobra951]

I'm sure he does go to PC, or will in the future. He's making a point, a very valid one. Sony California are apparently the epicenter of the new global repression, even with games meant exclusively for Japan. (Read the article.) In other words, a Western entity is dictating what is and is not proper for Japanese developers to release in Japan.

[gamer7804]

I wouldn't say its extreme or not extreme, just someone's preference on what platforms to support. We all choose whether to mainly play on one platform or another, whether its friends, exclusives, graphics, types of games, policies, services, etc. His just happens to be a stance on censorship. I'm not a fan of censorship at all, and while it won't keep me from playing on playstation, it is encouraging me to buy a switch since its the one console I don't have. Sony will without a doubt lose out on some money because of this, how much that is in the grand scheme of things remains to be seen probably very little, at first at least.

[rainslacker]

The only other option for the affected games is PC or Switch. Xbox isn't going to get them, nor most of the other games which are Otaku based, but not prone to the censorship, and Switch wouldn't be my ideal place to play most of these games. I'm not into PC gaming enough to want to go through the effort of setting one up on my TV just for these titles. It's only on certain kinds of games with a lot of fan service and it seems like an extraordinary effort to just play them.

While I don't like the policies at all, this policy may affect me for one or two games a year as it appears right now. That isn't enough for me to swear off Sony. If it gets worse, then I'll reassess the situation. In the meantime though, I'll just buy the games affected by it on Switch. Not my preferred method, but I'm not going to give Sony the licensing money for games which they feel aren't appropriate for me, when I'm fine with the content the developer wants to put in them. I'll continue to criticize Sony over this policy though, because I don't like them going to this much extreme over a product I like, because of some kids somewhere that may happen to come across the game itself, nor do I wish games to be held to some global standard at the expense of the developer.

[gamer7804]

xbox is a bit of a different case, they have a hard time in Japan in general, and don't get many non-mainstream japanese games regardless of the content therein.

[dumahim]

I think it'd be interesting to see MS gain some traction there because of Sony's policy. Probably won't happen though since I'm guessing most devs would just go to the Switch instead.

[Nintentional]

I agree, especially if you’ve been gaming on the PS platform for 10 years. I could see if Sony did something extreme and incorporate DRM and have a lot of other anti consumer features a-la Xbox One initial reveal. But censoring some boobies is not enough for me to stop playing games I like on the platform I prefer.

I woulda stopped playing on Nintendo platforms years ago if that was the case 😂😂

[Action GO FIGURE]

One less Weaboo on the platform, nothing to worry about

[ZeroX9876]

the author clearly says that he won't stop buying playstation products, but all available multi-platforms games he'll buy them on other platforms than Sony's.

Just like when people bought mortal kombat on the Sega platform VS the SNES version back in the days because of the censorship.

Seeing the comment section, I'm always wondering "is anyone reading the articles or just the quick summary on n4g?"

[nodim]

If only extremely reasonable.

[Christopher]

Not at all. I've had my GM car demolished because they closed a plant, burnt my Nike $300 shoes because they use a person I don't like for market. This is just normal, every day reaction stuff. I'm 100% willing to go with a platform that won't half any of the games I'm playing over the one that does have them in spades. There's no such thing as just deciding to support one over the other when possible but still taking advantage of Sony products, it's all or nothing, Baby! /s

Oh, wait! He's not actually saying farewell at all? What a loser. I only vote for people who end relations with companies entirely and in 100% reasonable fashion of destroying everything they've ever purchased from them.

[AspiringProGenji]

That makes no sense. It seems you were loyal to anime tities rather than “the experience” since there’s a lot to experience on PS4

[Nyxus]

Exactly. Why write off an entire platform? Makes no sense at all.

[jojo319]

he actually says he's NOT writing off the whole platform. He said he's going to keep playing exclusives on his PS4, but any multiplat games he will purchase on one of the other 3 platforms.

[trouble_bubble]

So in the end Sony’s still getting his money. Sounds like a stupid.

[gamer7804]

he is still keeping his ps4, for its exclusives, others he will buy on other platforms, doesn't sound unreasonable to me given his feeling on Sony's new practices, "for the players"....

[subtenko]

it doesnt make sense. It makes sense that its nonsense...

make sense?

[SpineSaw]

Ohh make no mistake it was all about the experience, the niche kiddie experience for this dude.
On another note.......I really don't care about the censorship change. But let's be honest. Sony see's the Pedo crowd making these kinda games their home and it's long past time to run them off so I got no issue with the move in fact I support it 100%. But that's me each to their own.

[ninsigma]

How can you say the "pedo crowd" should be run off and each to their own in the same sentence?? Saying a certain subsection of gamers aren't welcome is not letting each to their own.

[Rachel_Alucard]

Removing sex appeal from gaming has absolutely nothing to do with pedophilia. Are you looking at 1 series then ignorantly generalizing the whole sector?

[SpineSaw]

ninsigma

Chomos are never welcome.....to anything! These non-humans have moved into the genre and have been roosting for way to long. They must be rooted out and if that means changes need be made like what Sony is doing then so be it. And it is your right to not support what Sony is doing that's all fair and good. As for me I do support it but ""each to their own". And BTH calling a chomo a "gamer" is rich they don't count as human and can't posible be called a gamer. The chomos don't count on any level and must be pushed back to the Dark Web and into the depths of hell. But, I get it you may have feels for these folk....again each to their own.

[RememberThe357]

I don't even know what to do in these stories. I hear that Sony wants to ban porn games and I think, "cool, that's shit is weird anyway." Then I read the comments and supposedly the sky is falling and Sony is going to shepard in a new era of fascist propaganda.

Why not the same reaction to Netflix? Or really any other major distributor that has these same policies?

[ninsigma]

I honestly have no idea what chomo means😂
Going to go ahead and assume it's another word for pedo just purely because that's what you were calling people who play those games in your first post, apologies if that's incorrect.

So based on that assumption, I don't agree with just blanketing them all with that term because I don't think it's pedophilic tendencies that makes them enjoy those games. I would quicker believe them to have anti social tendencies as opposed pedophilia. I think actual pedofiles are more likely to be looking at real child porn rather than cartoons and even worse taking predatory actions against real children. If there's studies with data to show otherwise then fair enough but I don't think that's the case and I do think it's unfair to label people that way and to censor things that aren't illegal or hurting anybody.

[rainslacker]

I think there will still be plenty of anime titles to experience on the PS platform. Sony isn't banning fan service altogether, just the stuff that takes it to more tantalizing visuals or more direct interaction on the part of the player.

While I don't agree with that in the least, it will likely affect less than 5% of the total anime titles out there, and a lot of stuff is already censored for western release as it is, because the publishers have been doing that for a while.

I've vehemently talked out against this issue, and have even gone to the extreme in how I've thought it might affect them, but my concern is that it will be used for any kind of fan service no matter how benign it may be. Dead or Alive for example could easily fall into these policies, although the newest release is apparently being toned down some. And some other examples exist as well, which I won't get into.

But despite all that, if one is going for the experience, then PS and Switch are really the only alternatives, and while I have no problem buying affected games on Switch out of principle....especially for the games which have features removed or are heavily censored....I know I'd miss out on a lot more by dropping PS from my collection of systems. A lot of those games may not come to Switch, and I'm not going to go through the trouble of putting a PC under my TV in order to play games that way, as PC's require too much nonsense to keep operating well.

[nodim]

A lot of censored experience, you mean.

[italiangamer]

Don't do drugs kid, or you will write stuff like this.

[King_Noctis]

Or you will comment without ever reading the article.

[salmonade]

I read it, article is pathetic and pure garbage. Actually embarrasses the writer. It trully is pathetic.

[Dark_Overlord]

@salmonade

Pathetic that the writer is taking a morale stand against ideological censorship? The people who willingly accept it are the most pathetic of all.

[King_Noctis]

Anything or anyone that go against Sony (whether warranted or not) is pathetic to most of the people here.

[Phoenix76]

@darkoverlord
Pathetic that the writer is taking a morale stand against ideological censorship?
He's blaming the effect, not the cause of his issue. By that I mean, Sony as a business want to sell these games, but they have to follow nation/regional laws in whatever country or state they are selling in. If he wants to blame anyone, it should be those who place restrictions down.

[subtenko]

People like me have enough experience on the internet to known BS when we get a whiff of it.

[moomoo319]

@Dark_Overlord

Are you so debased from reality that you would call this article "a morale stand against ideological censorship". Are you aware of whats going on in the rest of the world? Or what a true morale stand against censorship will get you? Usually the death sentence or jail time. Not an N4G submission, moron

[nodim]

Sony do drugs kids or you won't care when Sony starts a cultural genocide.

[l33t_haxx0r]

You sound like a bellend, nobody cares about your emo crying.

[Segata]

I'm not agreeing with the article but your name and comment are straight out of 2004 in the worst way.

[l33t_haxx0r]

The world has gone to shit since 2004, people need to man the fuck up

[VenomUK]

That made me chuckle!

[Cobra951]

Which is it, "man up" or slam somebody as emo for standing up against Sony's censorship? Can't have it both ways.

[l33t_haxx0r]

Are you emo?

[Mr_Luke]

So the guy likes being a pervert and even if the game is good, he complains because his d**k won't be hard. Uhm... ok.

[Eonjay]

I'm actually surprised that can get someone hard. The thing is the games that appeared on Sony's platform NEVER compared to the real lewd PC games. So, I'm actually a little disturbed that this guys got of on Soft core fake kiddie porn.

[Rachel_Alucard]

You are ignorantly generalizing sex appeal being used in games and you have no useful insight on it and were probably biased before stepping foot in here.

[ShockUltraslash]

Im disturbed at the terrorists and mass shooters playing GTA and Red Ded.
Im scared when they start attacking schools and public places.

[annoyedgamer]

Sony fanboys really are delusional. Worse than apple fanboys apparently..

[remixx116]

Lol bro they ain't that bad damn!!

[Pantz]

Great article!

Sony's Californian SJW politics & censorship are losing them some loyal fans.

[StormSnooper]

What?

[aconnellan]

He said

“Great article!

Sony's Californian SJW politics & censorship are losing them some loyal fans.”

[StormSnooper]

I know I just thought if I heard it a second time it would be less stupid. I was wrong.

[nodim]

Mass-censorship is the worst thing a publisher can do. What exactly do you not understand?

[SierraGuy]

Since when did kiddie cartoon porn become ok on PS?

You have blood, guts, swearing. Seems pretty uncensored to me.

This stuff is weird and for weird people.

@storm...you can't fix stupid.

[rainslacker]

Actual kiddie cartoon porn was never allowed on the platform. No porn is actually allowed on the system as it is, which is why its funny people keep.calling this porn, because it shows their obvious ignoranve about these games. This policy is restricting content that isn't kiddie cartoon porn.

[ShockUltraslash]

You like blood and guts?
Thats sick and disgusting. Why would you like that.
DOnt you have any responsibilities towards all those children that died in school?

[Protagonist]

This has nothing to do with Social Justice, you are lying just to promote your Right-wing agenda and it is sickening.

If anything this is about classic conservative western morales which is not an issue in Japan.

[ShadowWolf712]

lmao all this crying over digital tiddy
totally doesn't make you come off looking bad at all

EDIT: aaand the author self-identifies as an Otaku.

I'm dead

[Eonjay]

Otaku: a young person who is obsessed with computers or particular aspects of popular culture to the detriment of their social skills

Welp that actually explains a lot. If you can't get laid because you have no social skills, and you had to turn to the PlayStation to get off... has he not heard of PornHub?

[rainslacker]

In this case, an Otaku is someone who identifies with the popular culture part....namely anime. It's a term used by western anime fans to identify themselves, and social skills among the community are about as varied as any other community.

Context is key, but stay the course of trying to avoid the issue by undermining those fighting it. It worked well for the SJW crowd during gamer gate, and it is always nice when it happens in the comment sections around here during all these console war arguments that happen daily. Nice to know you use the same tactics, because it means we don't have to take you seriously since you can't address the actual issue.

[ShadowWolf712]

@rainslicker It's an appropriated term that tried to turn an insult used even by anime fans and gamers in Japan into a freakin' identity or badge of honor. Context is trumped by irony here.

[rainslacker]

There was a time when being called a gamer was an insult. But we owned the term, and now we don't have to be ashamed to call ourselves gamers, despite so many people wanting to appropriate the term.

Regardless of where the term originated, it's meaning in context here is not the definition of the term given by Eonjay, which makes his comment both wrong, and weak, because he can only discredit the people complaining, not stand for or against the issue.

So, what's worse...a person who is a virgin, dwelling in their parents basement, lacking social skills, playing a somewhat erotic game, or a person who actively defends censorship, implying people are pathetic because they can't get laid, or find porn in a much easier way? Who's better? The virgin weeb, or the a**hole online who wants to cast condescending insults at a wide swath of users in a narcissistic attempt to appear sophisticated and informed, all while failing to make any kind of salient point to either defend or criticize the topic at hand?

Personally, I have more respect for the virgin who lets people do their own thing, or make their own choices without judgement, because he knows what they're doing isn't hurting them at all.

I wouldn't try to force that anti-social basement dweller to do things they don't want, nor take away the media that they may want to consume so long as it resides within legal boundaries. Maybe you weren't around during the time when anime wasn't cool. I was. And these same mentalities that used to exist for both gamers and anime fans is exactly what you and Eonjay, along with many others are exhibiting over this topic.

It is the height of pretentiousness to think that one has the right to judge others and decide what is appropriate for them. It is the height of pretentiousness to try and force others to conform to your way of thinking. It is the height of ineffectual mediocrity to do the above with the intent to force your viewpoint by bringing down others by citing what you feel is shameful about them, or their behavior.

This sanctimonious, holier than thou, attitude is pathetic, and no better than how gamers were treated before gaming decided to become mainstream last generation, at the expense of casting off Japanese developers and their fans, and building up western devs in all their crappy DLC/MT bug-ridden glory.

I also wouldn't pretend to be better than those virgins because of some arbitrary moral standard which they obviously don't subscribe to, because I am anti-social myself, and would prefer to be alone most of the time. We live in a society that should be more open, and if the social skills you guys think means so much means you can be a dick towards other people, then I'd rather spend my time with that basement dweller, who likely is smarter, and more interesting than either of you two could ever hope to be. It's attitudes like the two of you have that make me not want to be social with others, because I don't care to live in your closed off, ignorant world.

[ShadowWolf712]

"Owning" the term isn't applicable because a "Gamer" as an insult was just someone playing games. Owning "Otaku" is literally owning that you're a basement-dwelling no-lifer with poor hygiene who obsesses over his hobbies.

Bit too specific. Plus it's a term from another nation, we kinda don't get to decide what it means here.

But do please tell me where I called the man a virgin or derided him for it? Please. Or are you lumping me in with someone who replied to me because you want to, rather ironically, feel sanctimonious in your outrage?

[rainslacker]

I see the confusion here. Youre unable to understand context. And it's no different. Gamer was used as an insult like your trying to use otaku as an insult. But in the context it's used, it's not a negative. And yeah, we can decide to use it like that here however we please. That's how culture forms.and changes, and Japanese anime fans use the term in the same way.

You didn't call them virgins, but eonjay did. Either way, your comments are just as idiotic, and i stand by my original position that you have nothing of worth to.add to the conversation, and id still rather hang out with a self proclaimed otaku gamer than either of you. I do so almost every Wednesday during weekly game nights, and none of us are basement dwellers or anti social to the extremes that you make it seem.

Before responding, learn how to use the word literally properly.

I'm a proud otaku gamer. I'm a proud anime fan. I'm a proud gamer. I won't be shamed for what I like, because there is nothing illegal or immoral about what I like. Me, and millions of others know what this content is like, and because of that, we know practically every comment like yours is born from ignorance.

I have met hundreds of anime fans at conventions. I routinely converse with anime gaming fans on various forums. None of them seem anti social, and I only know one who lives at home with his parents. But he's only 16, and doesn't even play the kinds of games that get censored.

[ShadowWolf712]

Then you're not hanging with Otaku. Just people who foolishly insult themselves.

See how simple that is?

[trooper_]

This fake outrage is so ridiculously stupid.

[Harkins1721]

Your lack of reading is stupid.

[trooper_]

My lack of reading is stupid?

Oh, excuse me, I must have missed the part where the guy is going to ditch a whole system over a couple of censored boobs. /s

[Harkins1721]

Ill probably get the PS5 just for 1st party games but all 3rd party will be on steam. Lots of great things Sony has done but they are once again getting lazy/arrogant like they did at the start of PS3.

[Jozinho]

Lazy/arrogant? Can you elaborate on this a bit bc I'm a little lost?

[pietro1212]

Same here.
During the launch of the PS3 there was a lack of titles let alone good titles. Sony for the most part now has been pumping out great games so how are they lazy/arrogant. Also what does it have to do with Sony censoring a bunch of niche weeb games?

[Harkins1721]

PS Classic is very lazily done. 20 games with a good portion that don't really defy the PS1 Era. And it's a rip off for $100 as well as the versions they used.

Arrogant because they decided to censor games when there is already a ESRB system in place just for that reason.

They started it off with saying no
to crossplay because they thought of the children. Luckily they changed their minds. But I don't support a platform holder forcing Dev censorship.

[trooper_]

So they're lazy /arrogant because they censored a couple of random tits?

Wow...just wow.

[Harkins1721]

Not what I said. Please read and get better educated on the matter. These games don't even show tits bro. They remove modes and mechanics. And the PS Classic was a rush job.

Wow.... just wow. Try again.

[Chaosdreams]

*Waves goodbye

[EddieNX]

I don't care about the censorship of anime boobies if I'm being totally honest. If a girl in a JRPG is clothed or wearing something skimpy, it doesn't matter. Ultimately it's going to be the same game.

[rainslacker]

Except in cases like Senran Kagura, where they were forced to remove a game play features because it was too intimate.

[lipton101]

Lmao. This entire debate is hilarious. There’s some WEIRD people that frequent this site, damn.

This article is pathetic and utterly laughable.

[SegaGamer]

Don't you see the hypocrisy in it all though? Anime tits and cleavage are bad, but beheading, terrorism and drug use is ok? Sony's logic is flawed and stupid. If they said they were going to start censoring violence, would you then get annoyed? because if you did get annoyed by that, it would also make you a hypocrite.

[Rachel_Alucard]

It's a double standard. People aren't weirded out by killing and violence because it's so common in cultures and history. Sex is more taboo to people since it's done in a private space. With media content, the ones promoting it just hate the genre it's targeted at, so they'll fan the flames until it foolishly hits them too and affects what they like. The ones who don't care are inadvertently promoting it by not showing interest as well. This is about sex appeal in gaming being censored, but many carpet bomb it with "sick pedos" "pornhub exists" and the classic "go get a gf" failing to understand and ignorantly hammer the same lines that have been nailed 10,000 times before.

I remember 6 years ago in 2012 Shuhei Yoshida responded to feedback hating the region disparity between the Sony systems, and his statement was "Be careful what you wish for." Well here is what happens when that came true because now one guy in CA runs all 3 divisions.

[pietro1212]

Just a bit extreme because Sony has been censoring niche weeb games? The article comes off as the writer was only those types of games and not the overall Playstation experience. C'mon neckbeards

[Hardiman]

Strange hill to die on.

[Kratos_Kart2007]

Insert Tom Hanks waving bye Meme...

[ChasingTheSun]

So this is the smear job flavor of the month, censoring nitch japan games. LOL, Xboxone owners will cling on to anything thats perceived negative towards sony.

Wheres all the articles about xboxone locking free to play games behind xbox live gold? Thats really a huge deal.

[rainslacker]

It's probably the first "smear campaign" that Sony is actually deserving of this whole generation IMO.

And I'm pretty much considered a Sony fan boy around here. Just ask any of the Xbox fan boys.

But I like Japanese games, and I don't like the slippery slope that this could become. Anime games in general have been attacked since the start of last gen for being somehow bad for society because of supposedly provocative content. This just reaffirms that, and just reading this comment section you can see that people still consider Japanese anime games to be nothing more than soft-core porn, and the people who play them to be nothing more than anti-social losers who apparently can't get laid, because in their warped mine, the only people who enjoy sexy content are those who never have sex. Which is why the porn industry is one of the largest in the world...or something, I dunno, they can explain it whenever they're done looking up their daily porn fix.

That said, I don't expect Sony to get a lot of heat in the press over this. Too many mainstream sites have railed against this content since last gen, and too many have spent too much time saying this stuff shouldn't exist since last gen. Since gamergate, people who apparently defended these kinds of games, or anime games in general have had shame cast on them by the mainstream gaming press because of them, so for them to do a 180 now to get some clicks would be pretty shallow and make it too easy to call them out on.

About all I can see happening is this policy will somehow be used to cast more shame on the people saying that Sony shouldn't censor games, in an effort to avoid really discussing the topic, or reassert earlier arguments that these games shouldn't exist because they're somehow harmful to women or some other such nonsense.

[ChasingTheSun]

"I don't expect Sony to get a lot of heat in the press over this" Ha ha HA! There have been countless articles here every single day about these nitch Japanese games getting censored by xboxone owners. The thing that's so funny is xboxone is literally dead in japan and they done even get this nitch games they are complaining about being censored.

They dont have no games or nothing better to do than spam this great site with senseless articles to detract from the fact that xboxone has been one of the biggest failers in gaming history with the constant lies and double talk that phil spencer has spewed, so in turn all the xboxone owners are simply jealous and sad. They take it out on us sony players.

[Aura7541]

@ChasingTheSun

Check my comment history on VGChartz and tell me if I'm an Xbox One owner.

[rainslacker]

@chasing

Compared to the other non-controversies we've seen this gen, they will get a lot less heat over this. It's a hot topic right now, but the mainstream can't just change their views and be taken seriously, because they've been perpetuating this notion of Japanese games being too perverse since last gen.

The issue will likely die off, and while we will see the occasional article, the discourse over it will become much more sporadic as the weeks go by. Eventually, most devs won't make.mention of it.anymore, so the story will get old, only to flare up again every few months or so. When next gen talk.starts, this will.just remain a thing to say why people should stay clear of ps, mostly by those who have no interest in Sony, these games, and probably don't care about the censorship anyways. The Xbox fan boys already been surprisingly quiet over it compared to how world shattering cross play was to them.

[SierraGuy]

Probably that winner Phil behind these bogus articles.

What a loser low life liar.

[2pacalypsenow]

Bye Felicia

[Silly gameAr]

Give me a break.

Better say bye bye to Nintendo and MS while you're at it.

I think gaming has the biggest drama queens that latch on to anything that they can try to make a big deal out of in the whole entertainment industry. They forget all of the good things that someone has done, and try to make them out to be evil if they do one single thing that they don't agree with.

The messed up thing is, these are probably the same people that moaned so much about cross play, and now that we have it, we don't hear a peep about it. Just anything that has potential to spread FUD and cause a ruckus.

[BVFTW]

Great article, Benny, thanks for keeping the light on the issue of censorship. I'm not a novel-anime gamer, but I feel disgusted by all this double standards on the Sony Censorship Issues that while they promote games with strong adult themes and content they also ban and censor those that some people with the newfound position of power don't like, even taking such extreme measures as to choose for other regional markets what is right for them 'cause "world views", give me a break...

[Eidolon]

What a weab

[The7Reaper]

Sounds more like you're loyal to spanking your monkey to video games than anything else

[Futureshark]

See ya then... You weirdo!!!

[ramiuk1]

im sure theres websites that can serve his hentai naked cartoon needs?
porn sites will have that section i bet.

but on the other hand regardless of how strange the issue is if a game is 18 then whats wrong with cartoon breasts?

[WitcheRivia]

Of course the comments are filled with people(?) defending Sony's censorship policies. lol

[Silly gameAr]

It's also filled with people that hardly post anything on N4G that are usually against anything that Sony does. It's so obvious that I'm surprised people do it and expect to be taken seriously.

[pietro1212]

Yeah. censoring sucks
It would be a different story if a game like the Witcher 3 was censored, but look at the games Sony has been targeting so far. Characters that resemble high school girls and that lolita stuff.
People are honestly getting upset about lewd mini games being altered or removed.

[trooper_]

Or people acting like the apocalypse is near over couple of censored tits.

Funny, huh?

[Realms]

Some people are weirdos like there isn't enough perverted crap on the internet to get your rocks off, games with explicit sexual content can be found on PC just go there if you really want that kind of entertainment. FYI it's not really about defending Sony as much as being annoyed that small vocal minority once again is crying over practically nothing to get their way.

[rainslacker]

Some people are weirdos and don't seem to understand that these games aren't porn, and while I'm sure there are people who may find excitement from them, it's not their primary purpose. It's a sub-genre of anime with exaggerated sexual themes and provocative content.

I don't blame people for not knowing this though, because the mainstream press has been pushing this anti-anime or anti-Japanese game not tailored for the west narrative since the beginning of last gen when they felt they had to demean Japanese studios as not being able to keep up with the times, and many of these games were used as examples as to how gamers as a whole were misogynists pigs during gamergate.

It's nice to see that all that SJW stuff worked for them. It just sucks that it had to affect a small part of the gaming public which appreciates Japanese anime and what it has to offer, and can accept what it has to offer without the preconception of our own cultural bias.

"being annoyed that small vocal minority once again is crying over practically nothing to get their way."

You're talking about the SJW crowd right? The only people who ever had a problem with this content? Even the general gamer never had a problem with this content. They just didn't buy it if they weren't interested. The only time I've seen it used as a negative was by the SJW crowd, and those trying to create some controversy where it didn't exist....usually in an effort to shame gamers, or disparage against japanese developers not being as cool as western developers.

That said, none of the games censored showed any explicit sexual content. That has never been allowed on any console since the NES. This is censoring what is essentially tame fan service, with some exceptions which are causing censoring of actual nudity with games never meant for a western release.

[Harkins1721]

Because it is a big deal. It's not really in the minority. If it was it would be done with by now

[Realms]

@rainslacker

I lived in Japan so I understand the difference but it's a small minority of people that these games cater to, I'm not defending Sony because I don't want them to all of a sudden start censoring games like Cyberpunk 2077 but come on these kinds of games with overt sexual innuendo aren't something mainstream will ever see as acceptable. That is just part of the difference in culture sensibility you don't have to agree with it but it is real and it exits that is why Japanese versions of games often have a different tone than western versions it's always been this way.

[DefenderOfDoom2]

So , i am guessing the middle CG picture is PS4. At quick glance the middle picture is naked and the other 2 are in bikini's . The power of human imagination .

[ExplodingJuice]

Total bullshit article. He sounds upset because he cannot rub one out to a pixelated female body on the PS4.

[PaleMoonDeath]

So long suckaaaa.

[Veneno]

Looks like this fella is gonna pack up his waifu pillow, hentai statues, and vending machine panties and find a new home. Godspeed, brother.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Goodbye author I’m sure Sony won’t miss you

[opc]

Seems like he could use a break from all of gaming.

[JesusBuiltmyHotrod]

LOL, what a load of console warrior BS.

[Dizzy11523]

Sony's arrogant. I'm with this guy. The only thing keeping my PS4 around is King of Fighters and Guilty Gear.

[chadwarden]

His bio: "This hat-wearing otaku"

There's your problem

[DG90]

Ain't nobody getting rid or not playing PS4, because they've censored some pixel created boobs. If that serious bothers you.. You are a loser. Go see real boobs. Much better.

[zodiac909]

If your were so you were so loyal to hentai, why not just watch it from your mobile phone or PC??

[Pastemaniak]

Hey perv player! Careful with the door on your way out.

[LiamKreptic]

Cool story bro...no one cares what you do

[PlayableGamez-]

Dude acting like he is leaving a job or a political faction.
It's a video game console not a political party.

[Psytrix]

Weird creepy dude (Benny Carrillo) is mad that he can't jack off to his future hentai game porn. The worlds smallest violin plays for you on this day. (maybe time to put down the controller and reevaluate your life.)

[plmkoh]

That's one hell of an 'alternative' catalogue of games this guy's got.

[inxine]

come on really? thats abit extreme lol. i agree censorship of this kind seems abit too far but to quit indefinitely? .. lol

[TheHunter81]

By Felicia

[SegaGamer]

The comments above me show how pathetic the gaming community is these days. Well done on all of the name calling, I bet you feel big taking the piss out of somebody for being different to you.

[sampsonon]

why do grown ass men need cartoon tits anyway? grow up and find a real woman.

[StormLegend]

Amen! They act like anime girls are real or something. Go watch real porn or get a real girlfriend and not a body pillow

[Traecy]

Agreed!! Some of these folks are going mental over anime/cartoon T&A being censored in videogames seems very disturbing I must say.

[nommers]

At least wait and see how Senran Kagura comes out BEFORE you act like you need to abandon ship.

[neomahi]

Alright.... Drama queen much? Your loss, nobody cares, why is this even published? Filter this trash. We're not interested in opinions, only fact. That's why I don't go to IGN anymore. Most of the titles for their articles start with "Why we think" or "Why this" It's opinion and that's not how you do business. Hence, I don't go to IGN anymore. They're dying. Their executives take zero interest in what's even going on and don't monitor their traffic unless someone comes at them with plagiarism. That and they're like Comic Con. Comic con was once a comic convention, now? It's television. IGN stands for International Gaming Network, they should change their address to Geek.com instead.

[william_cade]

hahahahahahaha - this like when people leave social media platforms.

[Godmars290]

Then you need to recognize that certain platforms are overly focused on specific "experiences".

[Acecalibur]

Oh lord go watch some hentai and shut up already.

[Felix_Argyle_Catbro]

Censorship is a shitty thing. It has similarities to cancer: It spreads.

[jaycptza]

Cancer kills people. Are you completely f****Ed in the head?

[SCW1982]

should be called heyhorneyplayer.com. What a joke.

[Garethvk]

So see you back for Days Gone of Last of Us 2?

[salmonade]

HAAHHAA... how pathetic.

[ninerguy1608]

Ill always say this. Just old school i guess. But real women in person are great. If you're underage stay in school and worry about girls later. But if you are 28 living at home,go out and find a woman. They are great. No need for nudity in video games. Its so much better in person. Now if you cant get a girl to want to be naked with you,you can go out to Vegas. They have females that if you pay them they will let you touch them. Yep. Nudity in video games where you control the situation is sick. Sad. Disgusting that people need this in games. Pedophiles playing with asian girls in a cartoon world. Yep. See a doctor if you need this in your games.

[AK91]

Goodbye random journalist I wish I could say you will be missed but I don't know you at all lol.

I'm personally loyal to games first, as long as Sony continue making great SP games I'll always support them.

[Lionalliance]

Ok, this is a bit to extreme just because they censor one category of niche games, there's a whole lot of other ype of games this guy can experience.

[yomfweeee]

Please leave Sony, we don't need you perverts.

He's upset over Intimacy Mode being removed from SENRAN KAGURA Burst Re:Newal. Aka Rape Mode where the player could grope high school characters.

Pathetic and disgusting.

[StormLegend]

Imagine being that guy who cries over anime titles and fake cartoon asses. Who cares if the chick is censored or not. Find something more important to cry about or anything that contributes to real life problems.

[mastershredder]

I thought N4G did not allow personal adds on here.

I read all that as; Wanted: Desperately Seeking Attention.

[Rhythmattic]

To the writer of the Article ...
Your Drunk, Go Home.

[Anorexorcist]

If this pinko thinks that anime T & A is the true "experience" to the Playstation platform, then he should seriously seek some help and/or should step off of his soap box because a real Playstation gamer wouldn't put so much weight on the ability to gaze and drool over anime titties. I would think that a real male gamer in this day and age - with the ability to pull up provocative free images and videos of real women literally at the tip of your fingers with smart phones- wouldn't be so disappointed at being restricted to see cartoon poon on a videogame console. Not to mention the fact that needing that kind of titillation is not just weird, but also pathetic.

If this "author" of this "article" has any self-respect, he should really be thinking about himself and his life at this point; Putting so much emphasis on that kind of material is just not normal and is just creepy.

[Traecy]

Preach!!

[bluefox755]

Bailing on the best console games because you get to see slightly less anime boobies? Okay then. I'm entirely opposed to all censorship, but come on, lol.

[Smokehouse]

awww poor player. If you weren't a fanboy you wouldnt have to justify this to anyone.

[Traecy]

Like Britney said to Madonna in the Mad TV skit...BYE!!

[dreamoner]

There'll come a day when a game like MGSV comes out either by kojima or someone else & PS players will play its censored version, I'm sure they'll be happy. Censorship is bad everywhere but when its come to Sony, its ok. This is why I like Xbox more despite not owning any console. PS crowd is irritating as fuck.

[oasdada]

haha finding the little things to budge sony from the throne.. honestly making big fuss over such trivial things makes me wonder how much money ur getting to do this

[zodiac909]

This makes no sense.

[Tross]

Wave goodbye to Sony and you wave goodbye to all those great exclusives. I don't think their new censorship policy is great, but Sony has been pretty great this gen otherwise. They've been instrumental in helping keep non-GaaS singleplayer titles alive, and I'm sure they will continue to bring us great games well into the future. If you want to give that all up for a bit of censorship in some Japanese titles then farewell to you. Also, you're choosing Xbox as your platform of choice? WTF? I guess you'd rather just not play games like Senran Kagura at all then as they don't come to Xbox.

[Aura7541]

Not surprised to see that the go-to responses to the author is labeling him as a pervert while conflating actual porn with games with sexual content. I'm also not surprised that many folks here are only focused on the content of the games that are being censored as opposed to the principle of creative freedom.

Sony garnered a reputation of letting their 1st party developers do what they want and be not as overbearing in collaboration efforts with 3rd party developers (so basically, not be like what Microsoft did with Platinum and Scalebound). Apparently, now Sony is functioning on this "creative freedom for me, but not for thee" mentality towards certain developers and try to justify that as "protecting the children" (even though those games are not meant for children). Link: https://n4g.com/news/222308...

[freedom2b]

You're not loyal to anything other than money. Anyone who post a favored xbox console over a sony is lying with their teeth out

[Shakengandulf]

These opinion posts are some the dumest s**t ive ever read on here.

[michellelynn0976]

No matter which company, it's the way to get them to listen. When you hit a company right where it hurts em (the wallet), they will learn.

[ILostMyMind]

You're not wrong. If it is possible to find that same content on another uncensored platform, so be it. But what if it is not?

[michellelynn0976]

Then you gotta make a choice. How much is that content worth to you? Which matters more? Your principals or what you like?

[kayoss]

He loyal to the experience?? That's funny, it sounds like he wanted an excuse to watch hentai. I bet he owns one of those anime body pillow. I wouldn't want to use a black light in his room.

[Cobra951]

How many times am I going to see a variation of this same stupid post? Of course he can go watch all manner of saucy and salacious content on the PC. That's not the issue. The issues are: censorship, which is always bad, and a Western entity (Sony California) dictating restrictive policy to all of Sony's ecosystem, including Japanese developers making games intended only for Japan. If this berated blogger is pissed, imagine how they feel. Imagine how Japanese gamers in Japan feel. Remember how you felt when Ubisoft wanted to cow-tow to China's restrictive rules, worldwide? That happened just the other day.

[kayoss]

Then why are you reading every post?

[SegaGamer]

@Kayoss.
Why not actually give a proper response to his post instead of deflecting? Is it because you can't?

[ScootaKuH]

Bye. Close the door on your way out

[RedDevils]

Another attention seeking idiot?

[lipton101]

A frustrated, attention seeking incel

[boing1]

Poor snowflake :(. Somebody call the whaaambulance.

[Fritzwochel]

If the game is rated 18+ why should they censor it?
If a child buys a 18+ game then the problem should be elsewhere.

[CrimsonWing69]

With the censorship policy I’m seriously with you. I’ll still buy exclusives but I don’t want to make a platform that censors games my primary console next-gen.

[cliveo32]

bye bye ...

[FPS_D3TH]

Lmao this weebs not dedicated to the experience. He’s dedicated to anime tiddies. Pathetic

[lipton101]

This article has enraged incel neck beard all over it.

I really hope this person doesn’t have access to firearms

[DrShoe]

Lol, literally who?

[pyroxxx]

FAG

[pyroxxx]

What was ever been censored? Sega removed some minigames in yakuza games once,.. and they put them back in,..

[TheHan]

To each their own

[BioShockGX]

Imagine quitting playstation because you can't see anime titties anymore

[lipton101]

This whole thing is hilarious.

[windblowsagain]

Good riddance.

[FernDiggidy]

gOod fOr yoU!

[ILostMyMind]

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

[obidanshinobi]

What?
The saying " biting your nose off to spite your face" comes to mind.

[lipton101]

I know, right? The pedos are going to riot in the streets. The humanity

[drunkenspy007]

OK, nogaf.

[toyzombie]

Bye

[gazgriff2k12]

meh meh meh! im a perv. blah blah balh im a perv.

[Uglyday]

You are loyal to Lolies, oh wait, that’s what you like to experience, got it.

[Flewid638]

The experience is amazing though.

[Spartacus10]

Reminds me of steam when they were extremely dominant. Now that their numbers are stalling they've opened the floodgates to all types of games.

[nodim]

Sony will likely end up the same.

[azariosays]

seems to be loyal to Neptunia

[ShockUltraslash]

People are discriminating against the author by calling him Otaku.
I cant believe open racists are allowed to post hate speech everywhere.

[FPS_D3TH]

I much prefer the term weeb

[SegaGamer]

Or how about not calling anybody names at all and just accept them for who they are? In all honesty, the comments on here are making users on N4G look like complete assholes.

[FPS_D3TH]

Lmao guess you weren’t around when all the neckbeards were crying about historical accuracies and women in BFV

[nodim]

Good article, horrendous reactions from Sony fans. The day when people support censorship is the day when you understand that the end is nigh.

[FPS_D3TH]

Only a weeb would think a lack of anime tiddies means the end is nigh. Personally I think it’s a sign of hope for humanity. Maybe even hope for the declining population of Japan too

[nodim]

I know you are trolling but I'll still mention that degrading the idea of arbitrary mass censorship to "anime tiddies" is exactly what will make us all screwed in the end. People's narrow-mindedness is tragic indeed.

[execution17]

Sad stuff people on the the comments are defending his beliefs because it's "fictional" characters and makes it not kiddie porn 🙄

[Vizigoth04]

This censor thing I really haven't looked into it because it doesn't "affect" me. I play games for Story, and Immersion and gameplay and achievement not boobies. That all goes on another platform entirely. Playing the Witcher just now. It has boobies. Would it be the same game without?Absolutely. Awesome games great story so far. So again it may affect others but I'm still gaming regardless and having fun doing it.

[Kosic]

Had a very quick read over the article, it's about not showing half naked women in video games? Not letting perverted Japanese games come to our shores without them being censored in some sort of way?

I guess it's something to write about...

[subtenko]

I can smell the nonsense all the way here from the comments.

[jznrpg]

Laters. Sony has tons of niche games and this policy won’t last long imo, you can get some of these games on Switch but you think Nintendo doesn’t censor or even allow half the games that are on PS? There may be a couple games to skip through Nintendo but they will do the same thing as they are a family based console and have censored plenty of games over the years or flat out said no

[Thundercat77]

Ridiculous garbage article.

[nodim]

Fitting a ridiculous garbage censorship policy it's about.

[lipton101]

Weird flex but ok