EA Japan exec criticises Japanese rating board for banning Dead Space, but passing Stellar Blade

The general manager of EA Japan has criticised the Japanese ratings board for what he believes are discrepancies in the way Dead Space and Stellar Blade have been rated.

Japanese games are rated by the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) and can only be sold in Japan after they’ve been reviewed and rated.

Stellar Blade has been passed for a CERO D rating, which means it can’t be purchased by players under 17 years of age, unless they have parental consent.

This has annoyed EA Japan general manager Shaun Noguchi, who took to X (as spotted by Automaton) to complain that CERO refused to give the Dead Space remake a rating, effectively banning the console version in Japan, over gore that he believes is similar to that in Stellar Blade.

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.”

Noguchi went on to stress that his post was a criticism of CERO, rather than Stellar Blade.

“Just to add something to avoid any misunderstanding, I have no ill will towards Stellar Blade itself,” he explained. “It was fun and I recommend you should buy it.”

“This is purely a complaint about the ambiguity of the review process in Japan, and I can give many examples of the ambiguity that is prevalent in the review process for other titles as well.”

The official Stellar Blade account on X posted a message on Sunday declaring that the game “offers the same uncensored version in all countries, including the Japanese version”.