Ubisoft Issues Apology to Japanese Assassin's Creed Valhalla Players Upset By Censorship
Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the latest release in one of the Ubisoft's longest-running franchises, is now available worldwide, but it seems that not all versions of Assassin's Creed Valhalla are equal to others. Japanese players who picked up Assassin's Creed Valhalla say the game isn't what was promised, and further that it was censored egregiously compared to western versions of the game. Ubisoft has since issued an apology, but not necessarily for the reasons fans may have hoped for.
The Japanese release of Assassin's Creed Valhalla is censored in several significant ways. It removes or alters violent gameplay and animations related to severed limbs, torture involving inner organs, and decapitated heads. It also censors female nudity, including nipples. But that's not where Japanese players are drawing their frustrations. Japan's Assassin's Creed Valhalla also censors blood spurts of any kind in combat, an issue more complicated than it first sounds.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla features an option to turn blood spurts during combat on and off. The issue with the Japanese version of the game is that this option does very little. As such, buyers who thought they were getting a more violent combat experience believed either it was a bug or that Ubisoft misled them.
As a result of the frustration and confusion regarding the Assassin's Creed Valhalla blood spurt issue, Ubisoft issued a statement. In this statement, Ubisoft said that the removal of blood spurts was necessary for ratings purposes. Further, that the Japanese ratings board itself was consulted before the decision was made, meaning Ubisoft wasn't necessarily to blame for the full decision to remove blood spurts.
The problem with that is that CERO, Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organization, says that Ubisoft did not contact it. CERO handles all console game ratings in the country, outside of some unrelated circumstances. Further, CERO says that blood spurts comparable to previous Assassin's Creed releases in Japan were included when it did its rating. As such, Ubisoft further censored the blood spurts after CERO had already issued its rating. This statement, in turn, led to Ubisoft apologizing for its mistake.
There's no clear explanation for why Assassin's Creed Valhalla was ultimately censored more than necessary. At this time, it's also unclear if the blood will be patched back into the game.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Netlab (via DualShockers)
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