Following the revelation that hit superhero game Dispatch features enforced censorship on Switch platforms, Nintendo has responded to address the situation.
Earlier this week, copies of the game’s Switch version were discovered to have Dispatch’s pre-existing ‘Visual Censorship’ setting enabled by default, with no option to toggle it on/off as seen on other platforms.
Dispatch developer AdHoc Studio acknowledged the change in a statement that noted how “different platforms have different content criteria” and that the company has “worked with Nintendo to adapt certain elements so Dispatch could be on their platform.” Now, Nintendo itself has chimed in to try and explain the matter further.
“Nintendo requires all games on its platforms to receive ratings from independent organizations and to meet our established content and platform guidelines,” a Nintendo spokesperson told IGN.
“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.”
In other words, yes, Nintendo does require content on Switch to meet certain requirements, and will flag when it decides that something has fallen foul of these. However, Nintendo does not change the game itself — meaning that the manner of how an issue might be remedied is up to the developer.
A workplace comedy game featuring superhero characters and adult humor, Dispatch features occasional scenes that depict full frontal male and female nudity that players on other platforms have the ability to cover up. This setting censors breasts and genitalia with black boxes and even puts sex noises on mute. Characters giving each other the finger (as in, flipping the bird) are also obscured.
Online, fans have discussed the situation at length — and pointed to other examples of Switch games featuring nudity that Nintendo seemingly didn’t have an issue with, such as The Witcher 3. The situation is confused, however, by the existence of a specific Japanese version of Cyberpunk 2077 that removes nudity and decapitations, released separately from the game’s standard version that released on Switch uncensored elsewhere.
Fans have suggested a similar scenario could have impacted Dispatch, with the stricter Japanese ratings board CERO potentially taking a disliking to the game’s contents. If so, this could leave Dispatch’s developer with a decision to make: create an entirely separate version of the game for Japan, or the presumably quicker option to simply censor it everywhere. Barring any further comment from either Nintendo or Adhoc, however, this remains speculation.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
About the Author
