Despite their reluctance to deal with us directly, Marvelous-subsidiary XSEED Games is the kind of publisher that most game developers could learn a thing or two from.
With our website being an advocate for zero censorship in games, it filled my heart with pride when I saw XSEED Games’ Vice President, Ken Berry, speak out against censorship.
In an interview with Operation Rainfall, Berry said that while receiving M ratings are generally understood, getting the dreaded AO (Adult Only) ratings would force the publisher to censor material from the game – as hardware manufacturers and digital distribution platforms have zero tolerance for such games.
“We do always try to keep the original creator’s vision in mind when we localize stuff, as long as it can be accepted in the US. The ESRB is probably more lenient than what people think because they’ve been clear to us that it isn’t their job to censor anything, it’s their job to just rate the content. So most of the time we present the content as is and they come back with an M rating, which we understand, but if they come back with an AO then we have to have some discussions about what to censor in order to get that to an M rating. Otherwise, none of the platform holders allow an AO product on their platform.”
When asked how their company would respond if they were forced to censor a game they were localizing, Berry said that it would put the publisher into a “very very difficult position,” because this alienates their audience, so that they might appease people who weren’t even looking to buy the game in the first place.
That would be placing us in a very, very difficult position because censoring it would alienate the very audience that we are trying to bring the game for, while not really appeasing any of the critics that had no purchase intent in the first place. So we’d be doing a lot of extra work and going through a lot of extra trouble and pleasing nobody. So hopefully, we’re never in that position.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that Berry also talked up his entire team’s stance on censorship, saying they’re all quite vocal on the topic of censorship, quoting one of their more notable staffers Thomas Lipschultz, saying, “nothing should ever be censored.”
What are your thoughts on localization publishers having to censor material so that they can appease the ESRB/PEGI gods? Sound off in the comments below!
