Nintendo has responded to the controversial change to Dispatch that censors the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 editions.
Dispatch arrived on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 earlier this week, and while the acclaimed superhero adventure game finally arriving on a handheld was an exciting prospect (I was personally waiting on the Switch version to finally play it), it arrived with the news that – unlike the PS5 and PC versions, which have the option to toggle nudity and other adult content – the game would be completely censored on Nintendo platforms.
Nintendo – in a statement shared with GamesRadar+ – explained that the change was not on its part, saying, "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."
Many wondered why Dispatch was affected by this change, while Cyberpunk 2077, which features pretty much everything that's been censored in Dispatch, was marketed as one of the Switch 2's killer apps.
As VGC explains, the Japanese ratings board CERO is very strict about nudity in games. The Nintendo eShop – no matter which region you buy the game from – will default the game to the region your system settings are in (so buying a game off the Japanese eShop and playing it on your UK account will default you to the UK version).
However, in Cyberpunk 2077's case, CD Projekt Red released two versions of the game, with the Japanese-only edition removing nudity and decapitations. Given that CD Projekt Red is a major publisher and AdHoc is an independent studio, the cost of handling two separate editions may have been deemed prohibitive, especially since it would require two separate submissions for both the game and any updates.
