The Callisto Protocol has been canceled in Japan over its violent content

[midian182]

A hot potato: Japanese gamers won't get to enjoy the upcoming space-based horror title The Callisto Protocol after the country's ratings board deemed it too violent and wouldn't issue an age rating. The developers refused to make the required cuts but have promised those who pre-ordered the game full refunds.

The Callisto Protocol has been called a spiritual successor to Dead Space (not to be confused with the latter's upcoming remake), so we can expect plenty of gore and gruesomeness involving monstrous creatures called Biophage.

It seems the viscera was all a bit too much for CERO, Japan's equivalent of the North American ESRB. Developer Striking Distance was asked to make cuts that would allow an edited version to be released in the region, but it refused. As such, the company will be refunding all those who pre-ordered the sci-fi/horror.

"We have decided to discontinue the Japanese version of The Calisto Protocol," explained the game's official social media account (translated from Japanese). "We have determined that the game cannot pass the CERO rating in its current state and that changing the content will not provide the experience that players expect. We would appreciate your understanding in Japan."

According to Tokyo analyst Dr. Serkan Toto (via VGC), the CERO ratings board has previously come down hard on games featuring gore and dismemberment especially. While it has forced devs to edit games for violence and nudity before releasing them in the country, including The Last Of Us, Cyberpunk 2077, Uncharted, The Witcher 3, and GTA V, games rarely get banned. This censorship was said to be much less extreme in the 1990s before CERO was founded in 2002.

2) In the 1990s, Japan was a lot softer when it comes to video game censorship.

CERO was founded in 2002 and has become stricter and stricter over the years.

Games censored for nudity and violence in Japan include Last Of Us, Cyberpunk, Uncharted 1, Witcher 3, GTA V etc.

— Dr. Serkan Toto / Kantan Games Inc. (@serkantoto) October 27, 2022

While countries like China, Iran, and Australia are known for being quite heavy-handed when it comes to banning games, the most recent incident we heard about was in Afghanistan, where the popular PUBG Mobile was banned by the Taliban for promoting violence and misleading youth.

The Callisto Protocol gained controversy for another reason back in September when Striking Distance Studios' founder and CEO, Glen Schofield, appeared to glorify crunch culture in a tweet suggesting his team was working 6-7 days per week and 12 to 15 hour days because they loved it. He later deleted the post and apologized.

The Callisto Protocol comes to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on December 2.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/96465-callisto-protocol-has-canceled-japan-over-violent-content.html

 

[m4a4]

Love it when a gov't entity nanny's it's citizens. /s

 

[Eldritch]

On the other hand, literally every despicable act ever happens on anime and no one bats an eye. Double standards much?

 

[Vulcanproject]

There's some absurdly extreme Japanese movies going back decades and they ban this, now? Much lols

 

[axiomatic13]

Says the country of tentacle porn. ¸.·´¯`·.´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.º>

 

[Avro Arrow]

Considering what has been allowed (Pyramid-Head from Silent Hill comes to mind), I'm not sure that I even WANT to know what was so violent in The Callisto Protocol that got it cancelled.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Considering what has been allowed (Pyramid-Head from Silent Hill comes to mind), I'm not sure that I even WANT to know what was so violent in The Callisto Protocol that got it cancelled.

Pyramid head was from silent hill 2, which came out in 2001, a year before CERO was founded. As the article states, censorship before CERO was much softer.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Pyramid head was from silent hill 2, which came out in 2001, a year before CERO was founded. As the article states, censorship before CERO was much softer.

Yeah, I forgot to put in the 2. I actually keep my original PS2 disc in my desk here at work as a joke to scare people away who I don't want to talk to.

I've actually never played SH1. After playing SH2, I never really wanted to.

Instead of cancelling the project, they should have just moved it to a different country to continue development.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Yeah, I forgot to put in the 2. I actually keep my original PS2 disc in my desk here at work as a joke to scare people away who I don't want to talk to.

I've actually never played SH1. After playing SH2, I never really wanted to.

Instead of cancelling the project, they should have just moved it to a different country to continue development.

The point of Silent Hill 2 was not to point out you were wrong on the game, it was to point out that Pyramid head came before the censorship, which the article already points out. The project isnt cancelled......dude its pretty clear you either didnt read the article or have the reading comprehension of a goldfish.

""We have decided to discontinue the Japanese version of The Calisto Protocol," explained the game's official social media account (translated from Japanese). "We have determined that the game cannot pass the CERO rating in its current state and that changing the content will not provide the experience that players expect. We would appreciate your understanding in Japan.""

Its not being released in japan. It is not cancelled. Calisto Protocol likely isnt much worse then silent hill, again from the article, CERO has gotten much stricter over the last 20 years. SH2 likely wouldnt pass either today.

 

[Avro Arrow]

The point of Silent Hill 2 was not to point out you were wrong on the game, it was to point out that Pyramid head came before the censorship, which the article already points out. The project isnt cancelled......dude its pretty clear you either didnt read the article or have the reading comprehension of a goldfish.

You're right, I didn't read it. I'm doing this at work and that forces me to have the attention span of a goldfish sometimes.

""We have decided to discontinue the Japanese version of The Calisto Protocol," explained the game's official social media account (translated from Japanese). "We have determined that the game cannot pass the CERO rating in its current state and that changing the content will not provide the experience that players expect. We would appreciate your understanding in Japan.""

Its not being released in japan. It is not cancelled. Calisto Protocol likely isnt much worse then silent hill, again from the article, CERO has gotten much stricter over the last 20 years. SH2 likely wouldnt pass either today.

Yeah, sorry about that. I keep getting pulled in several directions at once. I should have read the entire thing first.

 

[psycros]

"..the most recent incident we heard about was in Afghanistan, where the popular PUBG Mobile was banned by the Taliban for promoting violence and misleading youth."

You could cut the irony with a knife.

 

[Lounds]

Japanese gamers have so many ways to get around this and get the game. I'm sure many will.