Adult theme censorship in the English tweet. RESOLVED: [It seems that the censorship was only on the tweet, the game so far looks authentic]

[MAKAIT]

RESOLVED:

I've looked into the game and it seems that the sexual themes and dialogues are preserved. It's only the English translation for the aforementioned tweet that, for some stupid reason, was censored.
I'm prefacing my old post with this paragraph because some people are getting the wrong idea and that's unjust to the developers.


Enjoy the game!
















My original post for reference:

I'm a fan of the director himself, so I've been following his company twitter account to get more info about the game as time goes on, but the recent tweets had me worried.

The Japanese mentions clearly 売春組織 which clearly refers to an organized prostitution ring, involving illegal activities and sex. And the Japanese text mentions Michelle's prostitutes too.
But not the English translation. The translator felt the need to censor any reference to prostitution. And replaces the prostitution ring with a "massage parlor", are you kidding me? and censored the word prostitutes by calling them women. Does that mean that all women are prostitutes?

Why? It's an adult M game. Why anyone would censor these everyday words? Is it to market to kids, in which case that's illegal since it's an M rated game. Or worse, this could be the real translation in-game, which would be a case of horrendous self-censorship. The thing that kills any motivation for me to play this game. Because I, and most of us I assume, are not here for gameplay. We're here for an interesting and mature story and setting from the creator of silent hill.

If you find this concerning please contact the devs.

https://x.com/BokehGameStudio/status/1841674681327485210

[MAKAIT]

日本語

英語版における成人テーマの検閲について

私は監督のファンなので、ゲームに関する情報を得るために彼の会社のTwitterアカウントをフォローしていましたが、最近のツイートに不安を感じています。

日本語の説明には明確に「売春組織」と記載されており、これは明らかに組織化された売春リングを指しており、違法活動や成人向けのテーマが含まれています。また、ミシェルの娼婦たちについても言及されています。しかし、英語の翻訳にはその内容がありません。翻訳者は売春や成人向けのテーマに関する言及をすべて検閲し、「マッサージパーラー」と呼んでいます。冗談ですか？さらに「娼婦」を「女性」と訳しているのは、まるで全ての女性が娼婦であるかのようです。

なぜでしょうか？このゲームは成人向けのM指定です。なぜ誰かがこれらの日常的な言葉を検閲するのでしょうか？子供向けにマーケティングするためなのでしょうか？それなら、M指定のゲームとしては違法です。また、これが実際のゲーム内での翻訳であれば、ひどい自己検閲のケースになります。これは、私がこのゲームをプレイする意欲を殺ぐ要因です。私たちの多くは、ゲームプレイのためではなく、サイレントヒルのクリエイターからの興味深く成熟したストーリーと設定を楽しむためにここにいると思います。

この件に関して懸念を抱いている場合は、ぜひ開発者に連絡してください。

https://x.com/BokehGameStudio/status/1841674681327485210

[Salty Juniper]

Just to give some context, this game takes place in the fictional city "Kowlong", but it's pretty obviously based on the real Kowloon[en.m.wikipedia.org]. This city was relatively lawless, and was (emphasis added)

controlled by local triad gangs and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug abuse.

So if they censored references to prostitution, that's disappointing, because that highlights the financial desperation and frequency of crime in the city. It adds to the atmosphere of the game.

TBH sanitizing "prostitution" as a "massage parlor" is pretty messed up because it perpetuates the stereotype that massage parlors run by Asian women offer sexual favors (the "happy ending"). So if the original Japanese says it bluntly instead of using euphemism, the English should do the same IMO.

BTW if anyone else wants to check the translation, I trust this website[jisho.org].

[MAKAIT]

Originally posted by Salty Juniper:

Just to give some context, this game takes place in the fictional city "Kowlong", but it's pretty obviously based on the real Kowloon[en.m.wikipedia.org]. This city was relatively lawless, and was (emphasis added)

controlled by local triad gangs and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug abuse.

So if they censored references to prostitution, that's disappointing, because that highlights the financial desperation and frequency of crime in the city. It adds to the atmosphere of the game.

TBH sanitizing "prostitution" as a "massage parlor" is pretty messed up because it perpetuates the stereotype that massage parlors run by Asian women offer sexual favors (the "happy ending"). So if the original Japanese says it bluntly instead of using euphemism, the English should do the same IMO.

BTW if anyone else wants to check the translation, I trust this website[jisho.org].

Disappointing is a very soft word to describe the impact of such censorship on this type of artworks. But it's very American the censorship of any feminine beauty and sex manifestations.

Look at the ESRB, even having a modest cleavage on an "M" rated game will be flagged with the stupid "suggestive themes" and "deep cleavage" description. However, with PEGI even "7" rated games can get away with it if it's not used explicitly for sexual gratification. Look at Voice of Cards ratings. Another thing is the breast physics that are considered taboo for some reason, which is very ridiculous thing to mention even for games intended for kids.

However, some developers are at fault like with DQIII HD-2D. The game that is self-censored globally, to stupid degrees, in order to target the american "E" rating.

[Bazzy]

This means the game is dead, thank you op! No way I will give this any money in the future. ♥♥♥♥ this!

[Solyaris]

So, as long as they are run by Asians, a massage parlor is a literal brothel, according to the translators?

How ♥♥♥♥♥♥ offensive.

[Purpleetea]

Oh my freaking gosh not another one? Are you kidding me? Can developers elaborate is it true? Why they keep letting this to happen? If western version desensitized then im not even getting it. Its just not worth it.

[MAKAIT]

Originally posted by Solyaris:

So, as long as they are run by Asians, a massage parlor is a literal brothel, according to the translators?

How ♥♥♥♥♥♥ offensive.

Those are the self-proclaimed "Localizers".

[winterMAN555]

Why do these companies keep hiring clowns to localize, I'd rather have AI translate it

[sBuckler]

Ah yes, the good ol' Western localization team strikes again! Who are these jacka$$es to censor/adjust the original vision?!

[Fulminare]

Originally posted by sBuckler:

Ah yes, the good ol' Western localization team strikes again! Who are these jacka$$es to censor/adjust the original vision?!

Here is a list you clown! An army of industry localizers/translators that love censoring or pushing their own political B-S.
https://varishangout.com/index.php?threads/♥♥♥♥♥♥-localizers-general.553/

There is an army of examples of B-S censorship because people can't cope with Japanese Common sense thinking, instead we are stuck with emotionally unstable ones in the west forcing their delusions.
https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/19606yi/square_enix_deleted_their_ethics_department/

Fire Emblem games are the biggest example of censorhip because western localizers couldn't cope with Japanese way how women are treated as women with feminine traits.

https://boundingintocomics.com/video-games/western-localization-of-fire-emblem-engage-removes-gendered-language-censors-romantic-confessions/
Fire Emblem Awak

Japanese novels got censored because the localizers got triggered by the content.
https://boundingintocomics.com/books/seven-seas-admits-to-heavy-handed-censorship-of-classroom-of-the-elite-and-mushoku-tensei-jobless-reincarnation/

[Bazzy]

Can we get on topic again? Please! Are there any new developents / updates regarding this game and the suspected censorship?

[Tensei]

im all for no censorship but this is absolutely karen nonesense its comical not hard to read between the lines. bunch of cry babies. game looks AMAZING.

[Xafron Chi]

I always wonder how many of them just don't know this is happening in the translations of their games.

There's been a ton of stuff like this in the world of manga, and I know of a couple instances where the creator only found out because of English fans contacting them.

[Fulminare]

Originally posted by Tensei:

im all for no censorship but this is absolutely karen nonesense its comical not hard to read between the lines. bunch of cry babies. game looks AMAZING.

The only crybaby here is you. Crying about people making a factual statement and all you're doing is crying about not wanting to hear something factual about the game because it seems the topic makes you mentally crippled.

[MAKAIT]

Originally posted by Bazzy:

Can we get on topic again? Please! Are there any new developents / updates regarding this game and the suspected censorship?

I don't know.