Idea Factory considering not bringing some titles due to heavy censoring movements

Looks like the “game censoring inquisition” campaigns from the United States are still generating more problems for the entire western market. Particular vocal social and media groups from that country have been aiming to limit the freedom of options for people to get certain titles (like the recent DOA 3 Extreme Volleyball case) or to just remove from existence IPs they don’t like. While regularly this should be a regional problem, the issue is that most videogame western subsidiaries are based in the USA and affect the rest of the countries for the area.

This week, Idea Factory International president, Haru Akenaga, made some statements in an interview for the Operation Rainfall site regarding those campaigns being the cause for not bringing certain titles:

In recent video game news Team Ninja PR has announced that they are not planning on releasing Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 here due to how the sexualization of women in video games is viewed in the West. Does this issue ever affect your process of choosing which games will be released in the West?

Haru – That’s honestly their decision, but yes, sadly, it has stopped us from localizing certain Compile Heart games. We don’t want to censor anymore because we know that’s not true to the original developed art.

Moe Chronicles was released with English subs in Asia. Will we start seeing English releases in Asia more often?

Haru –That’s actually Compile Heart Asia’s decision, not really ours. We could start seeing that more in Asia, but maybe we should do something to change in the West in the future. Anyway, we just don’t want to censor anymore.

While not is all bad news, Idea Factory still plans to bring the full Neptunia experience with more PC titles on Steam, a platform were this type of campaigns are not a big issue yet. You can read the rest of the interview at the Operation Rainfall site.

Sadly these type of campaigns keep spreading as certain vocal groups are lazy to get informed or don’t even try to understand that not all people have to think the same way, specially when the productions come from other countries, were culture and settings are entirely different, like in the recent case were some people attacked JSR composer Hideki Naganuma just because they were ignorant of the public bathing culture from Japan.

It is also to say, that the videogame industry must grow a pair, and not concede to this campaigns. If somebody does not like something it is ok not to buy or support it, but that doesn’t mean they should forbid the right for other people to get something they like.

Luckily people can still watch paintings with naked people as art in France, watch Krilin get blown up in pieces in that Dragon Ball episode in Latin American TV channels, drink beer on the German streets, or say fowl language in Spanish live TV, places were this type of problems don’t exist or can’t even reach. And luckily there’s always the import option for the interested people, people who can tell the difference between virtual fiction and reality.