The anime MMORPG Blue Protocol (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X) is set to release in Europe and North America in 2024, but the local publisher Amazon Games will make some changes compared to the Japanese original version. Most notably, the character creation will be censored. Amazon Games is aiming for a T-Rating.
This is the situation:
- MMORPGs that come from Asia to the West are often “culturally adapted”: In terms of gameplay, this usually means toning down the cash shop, as the shops in Asia are often “worse” than ours.
- But there is also the sensitive topic of “censorship”: Especially “young, female characters” are often sexualized in the original versions in Asia, which is seen as a taboo here in the West.
- Blue Protocol will also be toned down somewhat, as Amazon Games recently explained in an interview. The former head of Guild Wars 2, Mike Zadoronjny, has been working for Amazon Games since 2019 and is taking care of Blue Protocol. He gave an interview to a fan site (via blue-protocol-db).
“Wobble button” for female characters will be removed
This feature will be removed: The culturally induced changes will primarily affect character creation. In the Japanese version, there is a button called “Physics Shake” – which causes the characters to “jiggle”, emphasizing the chest and butt.
Amazon Games says:
A change for us in the West, especially in character creation: Female characters will no longer have the Physics Shake button. This is the type of change that is culturally accepted in Japan and that they make in their games. But, for us in the West, this can cause our players to feel uncomfortable, and that’s why we step in and say: Hey, can we make a small adjustment?
Body type “S” will be missing in the English version
Furthermore, Amazon will intervene with child-like characters to make their clothing less “revealing”. This has already been known – we dealt with these changes on MeinMMO.
The Twitter user says that Amazon did not mention the removal of body type S, but it is gone as well
The spokesperson for Amazon explained that while they want to maintain Shimooka-san’s vision for the game, they aim for a T-Rating. Animes are aimed at the teen market, so they need to intervene on some extremes.
As a user explained on Twitter, body type “S” (for “Small”) is completely missing in the English version. There are only M and L, which have been renamed Type 1 and 2.
More about Blue Protocol:
Blue Protocol is considered a major MMORPG hope, and I finally got to play the Western version
