Assassin’s Creed Shadows is being censored in Japan
Despite having an 18+ rating in Japan, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will still have some graphic content removed
The Japanese release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be censored, Ubisoft has announced.
A statement made on the publisher’s Japanese X account confirmed that the Japanese version of the game will have some graphic content removed, despite it having a ‘Z’ rating from Japanese ratings organisation CERO.
If a game has a CERO Z rating, that means it contains strong adult material and it’s illegal to sell the game to anyone under 18.
Despite this, CERO has still determined that the gore in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is too extreme for a Z rating, causing Ubisoft to censor it.
“Regarding Assassin’s Creed: Shadows (CERO: Z), there are some differences in the in-game content of the version sold in Japan in order to comply with the regulations of the reviewing organization,” Ubisoft said in its statement.
“The option to switch dismemberment on and off has been removed from the game settings, and now dismembering the heads and limbs of enemies while playing is permanently disabled. The way severed body parts are depicted has also been changed.”
『アサシン クリード シャドウズ』海外版（北米・欧州）と日本版 表現差異について#AssassinsCreedShadows pic.twitter.com/v3XrcppwMf
— Ubisoft Japan (@UBISOFT_JAPAN) January 24, 2025
Ubisoft also says that some of the Japaese language dialogue that will be used in the North American and European version of the game will be changed for the Japanese version, but didn’t go into further detail on this.
CERO’s decision to censor dismemberment in video games has been the source of controversy in the past. Last year EA Japan general manager Shaun Noguchi criticised CERO for what he believed were discrepancies in the way the Dead Space remake and Stellar Blade were rated.
Stellar Blade was passed with a CERO D rating (meaning it’s not suitable for players 17 or under, but can still be purchased by them with parental consent), whereas the Dead Space remake was outright refused a rating.
Further reading
Posting a selection of screenshots from the Stellar Blade demo showing severed limbs with visible bones, and guts splattered on the floor, Noguchi claimed that CERO’s decision not to rate Dead Space was based on similarly graphic content.
“What do you mean, CERO?”, Noguchi wrote, before saying he felt the Stellar Blade demo was “a lot of fun” and “full of action”.
“CERO, you said that our Dead Space was no good because the cross-section of damaged parts and internal organs were visible. But here you can see both the cross-sections and insides, so I’m not convinced you are using CERO D.”
