Fans of Asia MMORPG fear that prudish Amazon will censor their game – are angry

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Leksand extended the winning streak beat AIK

For fans of anime and Asian MMORPGs, Blue Protocol is the great hope of 2023. The online action RPG is scheduled to be released for PC, Xbox Series X|S and PS5 as a free download in the second half of the year. Fans expect strong action gameplay and cool graphics. But the anticipation now seems to be clouded.

How is the situation?

Blue Protocol: Gameplay Trailer

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Data mining image confirms suspicion of censorship of the players

This unsettles players now: A user has now posted screenshots on reddit that show a difference in female NPC models between the US version and the Japanese version:

  • In the Japanese version, the model wears a short skirt and matching crop top
  • In the US version, the skirt becomes much longer shorts and the woman’s stomach is covered
  • A second model also shows a clear difference between the original and the global version that we will be playing in the west

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    It seems that here in the West we are not getting the version of Blue Protocol intended for Japan, but an “adapted, censored version”.

    It also seems that not only is this the case in “data mining”, but reddit users have discovered models of the NPCs in the US trailers that differ from the models in Japanese trailers.

    A difference in NPCs was already visible in trailers (via imgur):

    In the Japanese version, the model wears a cropped top.
    In the US version, the stomach is covered.

    This is the reaction: On reddit, some people are outraged by this change:

  • “This confirms exactly what we suspected: there are different models for the original version and the censored global version of the game: And this confirms that they are not just idle data mining models, but that’s exactly what Amazon tells us will give.”
  • “To be honest, it’s a bit depressing for me. I hate censorship and I know if they censor something so tiny it’s going to get a lot worse. The best thing Amazon could do would be to give us an option to choose between outfits, but I know they won’t do that.”

    • Does Amazon only censor “childish” models?

    How can you see that? The model being censored there is known as “Desert NPC”. The character looks childish.

    One could now speculate that Amazon only changes the model for models that appear very young in order to counter allegations of “pedophilia”.

    Some on reddit believe Amazon is deliberately avoiding showing these childish characters featured in the Japanese trailers (via imgur) in the West because Amazon knows it would trigger a censorship debate.

    Loli characters in MMORPGs – cute or gross?

    Such child-like “loli” characters and their depiction in Asian games are a sensitive issue in the west, because the views from west to east differ greatly here.

    In the discussion on reddit, the players only talk about the character as an “S-size character”, that it could be a child who is shown bare-chested is irrelevant in the discussion.

    On reddit, the majority of players refuse to accept Amazon’s general intervention. They should leave the game as intended by the developers.

    Exactly the same discussion existed before the release of Lost Ark. Also this is an MMORPG that comes from Asia and was distributed in Europe by Amazon:

    YouTuber says: Amazon censors and changes MMORPG Lost Ark heavily in the west

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