In breaking news, The Callisto Protocol won’t be released in Japan. Japan has always favored censoring video game content that they don’t find appropriate. But this time the developers have decided to cancel the game for that region.
No ‘Callisto Protocol’ for Japan
The Callisto Protocol’s official Japanese Twitter account announced that the game doesn’t meet the requirements of the rating board therefore it won’t be allowed to release.
According to the Tweet:
'The Callisto Protocol' The Japanese version has been discontinued. At present, it cannot pass the CERO rating, and we decided if we change the content, we would not be able to provide the experience players expect. We would appreciate it if you understood the Japanese people. Refunds will be issued to those who pre-ordered.'
Japan censoring out games according to their rating board isn’t new. CERO is the Japanese board that deals with all this. Previous instances include some major IPs like the Resident Evil franchise and The Last of Us Part 2. Resident Evil 7 was notably violent with all the blood and deaths. The version of RE7 in Japan is called Biohazard 7 Resident Evil and is also a lot less violent.
Similarly, Resident Evil 2 and 3 Japanese remakes have less gore and blood than the global versions. The Last of Us 2 was also censored for horrific deaths and adult scenes. All those scenes were toned down and dismemberment was removed in the Japanese version.
So, it’s a safe bet to say it’s a big loss for Japan as the hype for the game was unreal. But it also gives us an idea of the level of dismemberment and gore that we can expect from the game. The developers explained that they studied real-life gore to develop the game. Now the trailers and cancellation in Japan tell us how true that was.
The Callisto Protocol is just around a month away at this point. It launches on December 2, 2022, and is currently available to pre-order on the PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
What are your opinions on The Callisto Protocol being canceled in Japan? Let us know in the comments down below.
