Kadokawa Games announced that the planned DLC for the PS4 romance game LoveR will be changing due to “various circumstances”. Kadokawa noted that they will be replacing the original sexy-themed DLC outfit from the Nora, Princess, and Stray Cat (also known as Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart) visual novels to something more… conservative. The outfit change did not go down well with Japanese gamers at all, and they began to furiously blame Sony’s PS4 censorship policies for the change.
Twinfinite noted that the announcement came from LoveR producer Ichirō Sugiyama, who posted the following tweets on April 2nd, 2019.
投票いただきました皆様におきましては、大変申し訳ありません。ユウラシア・オブ・エンドのかわいらしい冥界服と、パトリシア・オブ・エンドの制服にご期待いただけますと幸いです。今後ともPS4『LoveR（#ラヴアール）』をご愛顧のほど、お願い申し上げます。プロデューサー 杉山イチロウ
— 【公式】LoveR（ラヴアール）＆マジカルユミナ (@SweetOne_KG) April 2, 2019
The two tweets acknowledge that even though fans voted for the sexy outfit from Nora, Princess, and Stray Cat that due to “various circumstances” they won’t be including the outfit in the DLC for LoveR.
As explained by Sankaku Complex, fans had originally voted for the sexy outfit from Nora, Princess, and Stray Cat worn by Iris December Uncry, but Kadokawa changed it at the last minute to the runner-up, Euracia of End. You can see the comparison below for what the fans wanted and what Kadokawa changed it to.
Iris’ outfit is to the left (which is what gamers voted for) and Euracia’s outfit is to the right (which is what Kadokawa changed it to).
Usually Japanese gamers are pretty chill about these kind of announcements, refraining from outbursts or speaking ill of what content is being provided to them. Not this time.
They began blaming Sony for imposing their censorship policies on games.
原因が技術的な問題だったらいいですけど、ソニーの表現規制だとしたら笑えませんね。
ラインナップツアーで紹介しといて規制って。https://t.co/ctWQac7oyw
セクシャル規制で客は減っても、増えることはありませんから。
コンソール市場にそんな余裕がないことは関係者が一番わかってるはずなのに。— ゲーム大好きRobot (@Gameman39) April 2, 2019
これはソニーのせいよね
— 瀟 (@Rinkoid) April 2, 2019
諸般の事情ですか‥
いくらソニーの独自規制が強いからと言って投票を募る前に配信可能か確認はされなかったのでしょうか？
もちろんPSの規制基準が曖昧なのが1番の問題点でメーカー様は被害者だと思われますが1ユーザーとしては楽しみにしていた気分まで冷水をかけられた心境です。— るーい (@a105124) April 2, 2019
A few people began suggesting to simply stop supporting Sony and the PlayStation 4 and instead purchase games on the Nintendo Switch to show true support of uncensored content.
本当にそれですよね。
ギャルゲーは買うならSwitchにします。— ゆっくり詩音 (@yukkuri_sion) April 2, 2019
Switchで完全版を！(● ˃̶͈̀ロ˂̶͈́)੭ꠥ⁾⁾
— ミチ★タロー (@believed_myself) April 2, 2019
スイッチに移植しましょう👉
当然、有り得ないほどダサい下着のデザインも修正しましょう✌️— トナカイ (@cOsm2oX3o8Awu9y) April 2, 2019
Others took things a step further, stating that advertising one outfit and then switching it to another is advertising fraud.
They explain that gamers should have a sense of security when purchasing products and that content shouldn’t be switched out or changed to something else at the last minute due to these measures and that in the end gamers will end up losing trust in the company.
「このレベルのも実装できる」という安心感と応援で買ったファンも多かったはず、これじゃ広告詐欺に…
エキサイト水着がOKでこれが駄目なのは理解できません、自社判断なのかSIEなのか
このままじゃ今後も期待が薄いし誰も納得しないですよ
信頼を失ったら終わりです、粘り強く頑張ってください— まぁりも (@maarimosan) April 2, 2019
Of course, not everyone went straight for the jugular. Some gamers were a little more reserved in their judgments about why the outfit was changed.
Keep in mind that Kadokawa didn’t explicitly say what those “various circumstances” were, and it could have ended up being anything, from licensing to technical issues, to logistical hurdles. However, given the current trends of censorship running rampant through the gaming industry, most gamers were able to put two and two together and realize that Sony is definitely for censorship.
As some of you may or may not know, Sony’s censorship policies extend all the way to Japanese only releases, so only releasing in Japan does not spare a developer from having to censor their game to accommodate Sony’s standards. Whether or not that was actually what happened here is still unclear.
The new Nora, Princess, and Stray Cat outfit is due to drop in May, 2019. LoveR is currently available on PS4 in Japan.
(Thanks for the news tip VLOCKUP and Zach Z)