EA Japan Executive Criticises Japan Rating Board For Passing Stellar Blade Uncensored

General manager of Electronic Arts (EA) Japan Shaun Noguchi is criticizing the Japan Rating Board for banning the Dead Space Remake but passing Stellar Blade uncensored in the country.

「Stellar Blade」 offers the same uncensored version in all countries, including the Japanese version.
ステラブレードは、日本版を含むすべての国で検閲されていない同じバージョンを提供しています。#StellarBlade #PS5 #Uncensored pic.twitter.com/dJojSgZH9y

— StellarBlade (@StellarBlade) April 21, 2024

Recently, Shift Up, the developers of Stellar Blade announced that their upcoming game will be uncensored in all countries.

In Japan, games are rated by the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) and can only be sold after being reviewed and rated.

For context, Stellar Blade has been passed for a CERO D rating in Japan, meaning that players 17 years old and below cannot purchase the game unless they have parental consent.

However, upon hearing this news, EA Japan General Manager Shaun Noguchi took to his X/Twitter and criticized CERO for not giving a rating for the Dead Space Remake,  basically banning the console version in Japan.

In his post, he posted a few pictures from the Stellar Blade demo showing severed limbs with visible bones, he then claimed that CERO’s decision to not rate the Dead Space Remake is not based on its gore, which he believes is similar to Stellar Blade.

“CERO, you said that our Dead Space was no good because the cross-section of damaged parts and internal organs were visible,” the post wrote. “But here you can see both the cross-sections and insides, so I’m not convinced you are using CERO D.” (Translated by Google)

Noguchi later clarified that the criticism is directed towards CERO, not towards Stellar Blade itself.

誤解を招かないよう一言追加ですが…
ステラーブレイド自体に対して悪意は全くありません
むしろ面白かったので買ったほうがいいです！
これは純粋に日本での審査の曖昧さについて不満を述べたものなので他のタイトルでも審査で蔓延る「曖昧さ」はいっぱい事例はあげられます

— 野口ショーン (@SeptillionGames) April 21, 2024

“Just to add something to avoid any misunderstanding, I have no ill will towards Stellar Blade itself, It was fun and I recommend you should buy it. This is purely a complaint about the ambiguity of the review process in Japan, and I can give many examples of the ambiguity that is prevalent in the review process for other titles as well.” (Translated by Google)

Japan has been known for heavily censoring video games that have blood and gore towards humans, which has caused many games to be censored or outright banned in Japan, such as the aforementioned Dead Space remake and more recently, Callisto Protocol.

Furthermore, the censorship laws have also caused many developers to make significant changes to their game before they can release it in Japan. For example, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard has to replace certain objects like a dismembered head with a photo or paint any blood with black texture to omit details of gore, for the Japanese version.

These censorship laws are not limited to Japan, as countries such as China and even Australia are known for strict criteria on whether a game is permitted to be published in the country.

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