Nothing grinds my gears more than getting unnecessary censorship. As a cinephile, you see it sometimes in re-releases of older films. Removing offensive words for a modern audience. In the Nintedo Switch version of Dispatch, it seems that some obscuring of private parts and gore is happening. People got so angry that they demanded refunds for the game.
The biggest issue is that the game isn’t censored on other platforms. Nintendo has denied they were censoring the game at all. In a statement (via GoNintendo) reads: “Nintendo requires all games on its platforms to receive ratings from independent organizations and to meet our established content and platform guidelines. While we inform partners when their titles don’t meet our guidelines, Nintendo does not make changes to partner content. We also do not discuss specific content or the criteria used in making these determinations.”
At the time of release, Dispatch developer AdHoc stated it “worked with Nintendo to ensure the content within the title met the criteria to release on their platforms, but the core narrative and gameplay experience remain identical to the original release.”
Who is to blame for Dispatch censorship?
Some have suggested that AdHoc decided to do a one size fits all port. Many publishers have done regional versions of their game. This would allow players to get versions that are kosher with their regions. AdHoc could have done one version which would be more cost effective. Plus, they kept in mind that Nintendo is more of a family-friendly brand.
This doesn’t let them off the hook. The company should’ve announced the “censoring” of the game before release. It seems that the company was more worried about people not purchasing it. Knowing that some edits were made, people would hold onto their cash. Since there was no statement about the changes prior, it had to be AdHoc. In my humble opinion.