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THEY MAY REMOVE SOME VERY BLOODY SCENES OR MOVEMENTS
Censorship in videogames is an issue that tends to be present both in the West and in the East; whether games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla have to remove bloody scenes to reach Japan, or vice versa, with Japanese titles being modified to reach America.
On this, the president and CEO of CyberConnect2, Hiroshi Matsuyama, discussed in a recent interview the possible censorship by Sony, for the game to be released Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Hinokami Keppuutan.
This obviously would have a great echo in the community, not only from video games, but also from anime.
Well, it should be remembered that this franchise is one of the most successful currently worldwide, considering that his most recent film Mugen Train broke all possible records in Japan, and plans to do the same in the rest of the world.
Now it will also have its own video game, which will have a certain dose of action and violence considering the theme of the original work … that is, they hunt and eliminate bloodthirsty demons.
On this, Matsuyama commented that CyberConnect2 is developing the game with Japan’s ZERO rating system in mind; in an attempt to put the title in a good category, because in addition Sony has additional restrictions when it comes to releases on their consoles.
And one of Sony’s strictest guidelines has to do with blood and excessive dismemberment.
NARUTO AND DRAGON BALL DID NOT FACE THE SAME CENSORSHIP FROM SONY
This CEO gave an example of two games that have had different responses from Sony in terms of censorship, and based on that, what can they expect for Kimetsu no Yaiba.
The first of them is Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, in which Minato Namikaze must have appeared without arms (given the story), but Sony did not allow it, so he appears with his body intact.
On the other hand, in Dragonball Z: Kakarot Nappa severed one of Ten Shin Han’s arms, and Sony had no problem leaving it that way. Matsuyama explained that these differences have to do with how Sony categorizes franchises.
Naruto being a ‘more child-friendly’ work, while Dragon Ball has more adolescent and adult audiences.
That said, the problem is that the popularity of Kimetsu no Yaiba makes it a title with a fairly diverse audience; so they don’t want to restrict it to having a +18 rating due to the violence of the theme, but at the same time they want to stay as true to the original story as possible.
CyberConnect2 undoubtedly has a pretty complicated job to satisfy both fans and comply with Sony’s restrictions.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Hinokami Keppuutan is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
