After rejection by Japanese censors, the Callisto Protocol won't hit Japanese consoles and screens in December after all.
The Computer Entertainment Ratings Organization (CERO) deemed horror game The Callisto Protocol, with its lightning-traced eyeballs and abundant gore, too gory and violent for public consumption, refusing to rate it unless Striking Distance Studios just accept a censored edit for the region. . Given ZERO's strict measures, Japanese developers are used to making this trade, with Capcom toning down the Resident Evil (opens in a new tab) games for their home releases.
US-based Striking Distance Studios refused to create a modified version of the Callisto protocol, saying it would create a poor experience for players and instead refund all pre-orders in the region.
Sensible or stupid?
This isn't the first time a game has been rejected by qualifying teams, and it's certainly not a Japanese issue at all.
Film, media and internet censorship is nothing new. The so-called "Great Firewall of China (opens in a new tab)" has been in place since the mid-'90s to control the spread of information, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a video game that didn't. . It's not banned for nudity, violence, or seditious behavior (opens in a new tab) in places like Saudi Arabia.
But the West has also had its fair share of video game surveillance, especially when it comes to violence.
When Manhunt 2 came out in 2007, it ran into a roadblock from the UK rating authority. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to rate or approve its release, and American boards gave it an adults-only rating which effectively banned its distribution.
The game, depicting an amnesiac man guided by a psycho killer, finally saw a US release after Rockstar agreed to mod the game, toning down the depictions of violence.
Even with an M rating from the United States itself, the BBFC again rejected the censored copy of Manhunt 2 until their decision was finally appealed, with the released version being classified as Category 18.
In Germany, gambling is subject to the penal code known as the Strafgesetzbuch. This code has the ultimate authority over what text or media can be distributed to German audiences, and has banned many titles depicting graphic violence, including the original Dying Light, Silent Hill: Homecoming, and Condemned: Criminal Origins. However, after a 17-year ban in the country, German gamers can finally buy the original Doom.
All this shows that violence in video games is a global concern and not relegated to a specific corner.
Japanese horror fans can breathe a sigh of relief; it is 2022, after all. You can buy just about anything online except the original Manhunt 2; that version is still banned in most places.