Nintendo issues statement on Switch 2 and Switch’s Dispatch censorship

Following the news that Dispatch has been censored on both Switch 2 and Switch, Nintendo has issued a statement.

As previously reported, whereas other platforms had optional censorship on other platforms, that isn’t the case now. PS5 and PC included a toggle to turn off a certain toggle for nudity and other adult content, but it’s essentially always on for Nintendo Switch 2 and Switch.

Here’s Nintendo statement on the Dispatch censorship situation:

“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.”

So who’s to blame here? The issue may actually come down to CERO, the ratings board for Japan, which is strict about nudity. This is an issue because of Nintendo’s systems being region-free. Regardless of the region you buy the game from, the Nintendo eShop will default the game to the region your system settings are in. As an example, if you buy a game from the Japanese eShop and play it on your US account, it will default you to the US version.

With a game like Cyberpunk 2077, that game has a Japanese-only edition, which takes out nudity and decapitations. This could be how it skirted around any potential censorship.  

What do you make of all of this? Let us know in the comments.