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[Shin]

Sony and PlayStation face criticism from Mark Kern, an Ex-Producer from Blizzard who claims the company is censoring games.
Are we entering a “new wave of puritanism hitting games”? Blizzard Ex-Producer Mark Kern seems to think so, as noted in a series of Tweets — as well as a recent trend of stories that boost his claims.

While many accusations of Sony USA and PlayStation dictating content to developers, rarely will someone within the development or publisher community chime in.
Not so with Mark Kern, a Blizzard Ex-Producer who worked on World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo II.

In a chain Tweet yesterday, Kern lashed out at PlayStation and Sony USA, accusing them of censoring Sony Japan’s content and taking part in “a new wave of puritanism hitting games”:

Credit: DualShockers
Source: Twitter

 

[silentz]

"From a business perspective, there is danger in giving in to the panic. Like all panics, its a form of mass hysteria. It's not real, and in fact buyers don't care, only the pundits and social media "reeee" crowd. My advice to game companies: don't cave. You will lose customers."

"The ones actually buying your games don't care for censorship. Also, there is no "untapped mass market" out there that will magically buy more games if you somehow go "woke" enough. Ask Star Wars or Marvel comics. It doesn't work."

This.

 

[ruvikx]

Puritanism is creeping into the entire corporate USA/Western world. In Formula 1, they fired all the grid girls (models in sexy outfits paid to hold driver names & numbers on the grid) in the belief it was outdated & "current year" morality = "cover up your wamenz or else ur a misogynist".

It's not exclusive to Sony. It's a social trend pushed by the corporate suits all over the west for xyz bullshit reasons.

 

[Z O N E]

"From a business perspective, there is danger in giving in to the panic. Like all panics, its a form of mass hysteria. It's not real, and in fact buyers don't care, only the pundits and social media "reeee" crowd. My advice to game companies: don't cave. You will lose customers."

"The ones actually buying your games don't care for censorship. Also, there is no "untapped mass market" out there that will magically buy more games if you somehow go "woke" enough. Ask Star Wars or Marvel comics. It doesn't work."

This.

This this.

What he said there is so true. Period.

 

[Aurelian]

The funny thing is that they claim buyers don't care for "censorship," but the boring reality is that they also don't care much about that content going away, either. Most people don't play games to masturbate to scantily clad anime girls; they're there to play.

 

[Fuz]

No shit, Sherlock.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I'm glad he calls it out for what it is, "puritanism".

I would say "the only thing missing is the religious aspect" but modern Identity Politics ideology seems to be filling the gap without a hitch.

 

[YayNJ]

This.

This this./QUOTE]

TThat.

 

[InterMusketeer]

The funny thing is that they claim buyers don't care for "censorship," but the boring reality is that they also don't care much about that content going away, either. Most people don't play games to masturbate to scantily clad anime girls; they're there to play.

Lol.

If, as you say, they don't care whether the content is there or not (they do) it's only more time, effort and money to remove content. Might as well keep it in then.

 

[Aurelian]

Lol.

If, as you say, they don't care whether the content is there or not (they do) it's only more time, effort and money to remove content. Might as well keep it in then.

But then it also means you shouldn't screech like a banshee when it's taken out, and shouldn't throw a fit when a developer decides against including gratuitous T&A in the first place.

 

[Lightsbane]

Will be skipping Sony's next console because of this. I don't condone censorship.

And that's coming from someone who has probably never bought a censored game besides, maybe, Fire Emblem. It's the principle of the thing.

 

[TeamGhobad]

i will not be purchasing the ps5

 

[InterMusketeer]

But then it also means you shouldn't screech like a banshee when it's taken out, and shouldn't throw a fit when a developer decides against including gratuitous T&A in the first place.

Why? Customers and fans can criticize any decision made by the developer or localization.

 

[thelastword]

So this is the new crossplay pitchfork point and devs are airing their views, just like Bethesda did on CP...... I'm not sure these persons are genuinely concerned... It seems that they just want free press for themselves or whatever game they have upcoming.....

Piece of advice, let Sony manage what they deem acceptable on their platform on an ethical level and perhaps devs should just concentrate on making quality games and stay out of the politics, it will benefit you and your game tremendously.

The flipside is Bethesda and how playing politics over concentrating on giving gamers a quality game backfired, not only did Fallout 76 not have Crossplay, but that was/is the least of their worries with that game or the franchise as a whole......

Make great games, we'll buy them.....Yet, sony is within their right to censor 1000 year old beings who look like 12...... They have other lawsuits and pressure to fend off if they don't....... Especially in this current climate. Yet, I play games, not for sexual stimulation, so what do I know.....

 

[Dr.brain64]

Sony is trying to help the asian gaming industry. The industry's reputation will be saved by filtering such degrading and sexist content. Please understand.

 

[Aurelian]

Why? Customers and fans can criticize any decision made by the developer or localization.

You can, but that doesn't mean you're justified in doing so. Sometimes it's just overly entitled whining.

 

[Shin]

Will be skipping Sony's next console because of this. I don't condone censorship.

Neither do I and the way they are going about it I find hypocritical as if they are ashamed of their heritage.
As a side note Steam started doing it as well or became more vigilant (HuniePop 2), the world is becoming of a control freak with each year gone by.

 

[InterMusketeer]

You can, but that doesn't mean you're justified in doing so. Sometimes it's just overly entitled whining.

Yes, when content is altered or even outright removed, and people speak up to say they don't want that, that's entitlement. Sure. It's not justifiable either because... You said so? You're not really winning me over with your arguments here.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Wasn’t it Blizzard who took out a victory pose from OW for being too sexually suggestive?

 

[dirthead]

It really isn't puritanism as much as "we don't want to piss off the feminists!" Notice that it's only sexual material involving women getting the axe. All other meat is still on the menu.

Look at MK11. People are literally pulling faces off skulls. Not exactly "puritan."

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Wasn’t it Blizzard who took out a victory pose from OW for being too sexually suggestive?

No, they replaced it with another pose that was arguably more suggestive.

 

[Aurelian]

Yes, when content is altered or even outright removed, and people speak up to say they don't want that, that's entitlement. Sure. It's not justifiable either because... You said so? You're not really winning me over with your arguments here.

I didn't say that. The point is that you're not necessarily justified simply by complaining. Ever been in a service job and had a customer throw a tantrum over something that didn't really matter? I see a lot of that in the gaming community.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

No, they replaced it with another pose that was arguably more suggestive.

Which one?

Also I still giggle at the pose they removed. I struggle to see it as anything but hypersensitivity if you found it too much to stomach.

 

[ph33rknot]

It really isn't puritanism as much as "we don't want to piss off the feminists!" Notice that it's only sexual material involving women getting the axe. All other meat is still on the menu.

Look at MK11. People are literally pulling faces off skulls. Not exactly "puritan."

America has only ever really been focused on sex violence has always been ok-ish

 

[Shy Fingers]

Without examples of this "censorship" this is kinda just a baseless claim.

 

[Kenpachii]

Still don't see any issue with sony censoring anything.

If you don't want your game to be censored release it on PC. SImple as that.

 

[Vawn]

All the examples so far have been of censoring sexual images of what clearly looks like 11 year-old girls that are labeled as (at least in NA translations) 18+ or some other species entirely.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Sony has little to fear. The censorship being done is in obscure anime styles of games. Most gamers don't play them, don't even know about them, and some of them don't even have a US release.

If word got out PS5 will be censoring more stuff, it won't have an effect unless they go uber censorship like Nintendo in the 90s. And suddenly all violence, gore, blood were nixed. That would be different as everything from shooters to Rockstar games to their own ultra violent LoU and God of War should feel the new policies too.

But if it's capped at sexualized anime games that are played by 0.1% of PS gamers, almost nobody will notice or care.

 

[CatCouch]

I definitely care about games being censored. I haven't played a game on my Vita or PS4 since October and I don't intend to go back unless Sony drops this censorship. If you don't care about it, fine, but others do. Why must people insult those who care? It's not entitlement to be upset that content I had for years is suddenly not allowed.

 

[Clear]

Its funny though, that tweet is so typical of another aspect of the current morality panic: getting offended on somebody else's behalf!

Tell us what you personally feel you are being denied by this censorship, what is it exactly that's being lost? Because if you don't have the moral conviction to actually defend it, and stand by it, I couldn't give a fuck about your fake outrage.

Its just a different flavor of virtue-signalling. The left have a shit-ton of it admittedly, but its not a monopoly. Whoever is doing it, its still just narcissitically creating cultural noise by saying "look at me", I'm anti- this thing.

 

[Winter John]

I'm glad he calls it out for what it is, "puritanism".

I would say "the only thing missing is the religious aspect" but modern Identity Politics ideology seems to be filling the gap without a hitch.

If you look at what the religious right were doing in the late 80s/early 90s it's pretty obvious that today's puritans have learnt a lot from them. They use many of the same tactics that groups like the PMRC used when Al Gore's wife was spending her days trying to censor musicians and getting their records banned from stores.

 

[ANIMAL1975]

By the words in the title i though the ex-Blizzard dude had experienced, or at least witnessed, said censorship.
Apparently none of the above, The dude was under a rock, and only now heard of what we already knew

 

[The Mad Draklor]

All the examples so far have been of censoring sexual images of what clearly looks like 11 year-old girls that are labeled as (at least in NA translations) 18+ or some other species entirely.

"Looks like" is a subjective statement. Not to mention, they're drawings; they don't depict people in realistic proportions which inherently makes it clear that the characters are purely fictional.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

"Looks like" is a subjective statement. Not to mention, they're drawings; they don't depict people in realistic proportions which inherently makes it clear that the characters are purely fictional.

Just because the are fictional doesn't mean they can't be seen as bad taste. If someone made a game drawing a baby being screwed, pretty sure people wouldn't like it either.

 

[Danjin44]

The funny thing is that they claim buyers don't care for "censorship," but the boring reality is that they also don't care much about that content going away, either. Most people don't play games to masturbate to scantily clad anime girls; they're there to play.

Can someone explain to me why having sexy design in games = "masturbating"? People can enjoy sexy character design in their games without wanting to masturbate to it.

 

[Von Hugh]

Who would've thunk ten years ago that today people would be dealing with censorship, social justice warriors, gamer gates, #metoo, fucking genders and all the other social and political trendy subjects.

I want to get back to 90s.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Can someone explain to me why having sexy design in games = "masturbating"? People can enjoy sexy character design in their games without wanting to masturbate to it.

When it comes to games, mags or movies involving sex, pretty sure the intent of the material isn't for the viewer to go play crossword puzzles. It's for the viewer to get entertained via sexy thoughts.

There's also a difference in sexy dressing (ie. a classic D&D sorcerous showing cleavage fighting dragons vs. gamers staring at anime upskirt shots in photo mode). One image involves a character showing sexiness attire, but the purpose of the game is questing. Let's face it, the intent of those anime upskirt kinds of games is to ogle digital crotches.

 

[Aurelian]

Can someone explain to me why having sexy design in games = "masturbating"? People can enjoy sexy character design in their games without wanting to masturbate to it.

It's the obsession with it that's the issue. You'd think you were depriving some people of water the way they complain about covered-up female characters. And like StreetsofBeige said, the complaints frequently revolve around costumes and poses that are clearly meant to arouse horny boys, not the mere presence of sexy characters. They're looking for softcore porn and can't even admit it.

 

[FearlessBelgian]

Weapons, dead people,guts, blood and gore = GOOD

Sexy outfits(only for women, sexualised men are OK...), Boobs(only women), naked body = BAD

...

Something is wrong in our society...

 

[JunkerWoland]

I appreciate an industry insider with a higher level of visibility both highlighting and criticizing Sony's recent moves to arbitrarily alter or block certain non-adult content on their platform.

At the same time, we're several months into this situation, with almost no comment on Sony's part and no change in direction. The company clearly doesn't care about damage done to developers or any related lost sales. In my view, Sony currently wants to be the type of entertainment company that I'm not particularly interested in supporting. I'm not about to trash my existing products, but baring a shift in policy, I hope Japanese third parties make it easy to avoid owning Playstation hardware in the next generation.

 

[Fuz]

Wasn’t it Blizzard who took out a victory pose from OW for being too sexually suggestive?

No, they replaced it with another pose that was arguably more suggestive.

What is this retcon? They replaced Tracer's pose with one where her butt wasn't showing.

Can someone explain to me why having sexy design in games = "masturbating"?

It's called "strawman".

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Weapons, dead people,guts, blood and gore = GOOD

Sexy outfits(only for women, sexualised men are OK...), Boobs(only women), naked body = BAD

...

Something is wrong in our society...

Depends on the country. Japan is ok with sex games. US is not. But violence and drugs in US media is A-OK. Not sure about Europe as a whole, but probably somewhere in the middle???? There's a lot more sex and cussing in stuff I've seen in European media, but I think some countries like Germany (and Aussie down south) have violence limits????

The key reason why there's censorship issues at Sony lately is probably due to PS gaming leadership now in the US. So what you get is more US influence.

I don't know what it's like now, but I used to live in Montreal decades ago. Full tits, asses and swearing in prime time TV. Government didn't care, citizens didn't care, you didn't get rapists on every corner. If Sony PS HQ was situated in Quebec you'd probably get more lax policies.

 

[CatCouch]

It's the obsession with it that's the issue. You'd think you were depriving some people of water the way they complain about covered-up female characters. And like StreetsofBeige said, the complaints frequently revolve around costumes and poses that are clearly meant to arouse horny boys, not the mere presence of sexy characters. They're looking for softcore porn and can't even admit it.

This sounds like a strawman argument. You refer to the people who play the games in a negative light as if that is justification for censoring games.

 

[Wings 嫩翼翻せ]

Weapons, dead people,guts, blood and gore = GOOD

Sexy outfits(only for women, sexualised men are OK...), Boobs(only women), naked body = BAD.

I have yet to hear or see a post someone made remotely suggesting this, as you expressed it here.

 

[Aurelian]

This sounds like a strawman argument. You refer to the people who play the games in a negative light as if that is justification for censoring games.

I'm not trying to justify censoring games in this case (it's their platform, though, they're free to do anything legal with it), just that the moaning and complaining frequently revolves around depictions that are clearly meant as a kind of softcore porn or pinup. They can't claim "it's not about wanting to masturbate!" while at the same time citing examples that are all about sexual stimulation. It's like insisting that you read Playboy for the articles... folks, just own up to what you really want, don't pretend this is about high-minded artistic integrity.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Just because the are fictional doesn't mean they can't be seen as bad taste.

Though this is also a subjective statement. Only in a few extreme cases where this applies objectively like the example you provided, but how common is that example?

If someone made a game drawing a baby being screwed, pretty sure people wouldn't like it either.

But that is not is being talked about here.

What is this retcon? They replaced Tracer's pose with one where her butt wasn't showing.

I'm not trying to justify censoring games in this case (it's their platform, though, they're free to do anything legal with it), just that the moaning and complaining frequently revolves around depictions that are clearly meant as a kind of softcore porn or pinup. They can't claim "it's not about wanting to masturbate!" while at the same time citing examples that are all about sexual stimulation. It's like insisting that you read Playboy for the articles... folks, just own up to what you really want, don't pretend this is about high-minded artistic integrity.

But this is all assumption on your part. Perhaps it may be true for some people, but to claim that it's true for everyone who are interested in these games is nonsensical.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I'm not trying to justify censoring games in this case (it's their platform, though, they're free to do anything legal with it), just that the moaning and complaining frequently revolves around depictions that are clearly meant as a kind of softcore porn or pinup. They can't claim "it's not about wanting to masturbate!" while at the same time citing examples that are all about sexual stimulation. It's like insisting that you read Playboy for the articles... folks, just own up to what you really want, don't pretend this is about high-minded artistic integrity.

Exactly.

I have never heard once that any of these sexualized anime games have such great gameplay, everything else can be ignored. It's all about images of young girls showing cleavage and upskirts, wrapped around some mundane storyline (which nobody has ever brought up in any thread).

Hey, I'll be the first to admit I like playing shooters and RPGs to quest, kill people online and slash at goblins and dragons. No big deal from my end. I even have fun playing cheesy puzzle games matching 3 gems to score points.

But have fun trying to find even one person who will admit it's all about having jollies taking upskirt shots in photo mode or staring at anime teens showing cleavage in a bubble bath (whatever that game was where young girls claimed to be adults, but look 12 with D-cups, had it censored with white clouds/light covering them up).

 

[Graciaus]

Without examples of this "censorship" this is kinda just a baseless claim.

But there are a ton of examples. If you don't care or chose to ignore it that doesn't change what it is.

 

[JunkerWoland]

But have fun trying to find even one person who will admit it's all about having jollies taking upskirt shots in photo mode or staring at anime teens showing cleavage in a bubble bath...

While the combat portion of the games are also fun, part of the reason I enjoy Senran Kagura is making the girls' titties bounce and taking naughty photos of them. There, I'm your one person.

Just for clarity in regards to Sony, it's their platform, they can do what they want. My primary issue is we're several years (if not near the end) of the platform's life cycle and the company suddenly implemented this new content oversight. Had Sony maintained this stance at the beginning of the generation, I likely wouldn't have purchased the PS4.

 

[Shin]

Might as well censor Japan as a whole then because go to any anime site or game site covering Japanese games and it looks like the image below.
It is also a way of expressing one's self or stressing out because society causes it, now that very same society or certain types of it wants to silence them?

Here another image (not promoting anything, just providing a example to make a point)