Chaos;Head Noah PC port has been canceled because of Steam's "guideline-required changes"

Guacaholey · Oct 1, 2022

x65943 said:
It is because Nintendo is a Japanese company and the culture around protecting children from sexualization is not nearly as strong there

Chaos;Child probably had more of that than Chaos;Head did (I know Chaos;Head had a bonus mode with lingerie but I think they were mostly similar to bikinis), and it had no issues getting onto Steam.

HarveyHouston · Oct 1, 2022

What were we reading about? GOG's 14th anniversary? ...Get it?

linuxares said:
Then just put it on GOG and get it over with...

Whoops, somebody already got that idea... But I mean, the whole thing sounds disturbing anyway, so no wonder.

DJPlace · Oct 1, 2022

since when the HELL does Steam hate School Outfit's?

for fuck sake's i bet it's for too many PANTY shots...

hachi- · Oct 1, 2022

CeeDee said:
the anti censorship outrage is free publicity though.

I'm totally not thinking it's the case at all. While I'm sure it is giving a bit more publicity, I doubt they'd think something like this is worth the trouble at all, and if anything, it's just holding back when the company can get their money. And if they end up having to release on a separate storefront from the rest of the series, that'll certainly lower the sales too. The rumor alone could've been enough if it were the case.

Although personally, I really hate the other way around. The people taking advantage of one of my favorite VNs getting banned from Steam to make ragebait crap because it's free clicks from people who're also super anti-censorship.
Like, I'm totally against Steam's stance too. But damn, stuff like this just pisses me off, feels less like they're just informing and more like they're trying to use ragebait to get more of those sweet internet points.

Reploid · Oct 1, 2022

There are other storefronts. Or they even can just sell zip file with the game on their site. no DRM, but it's not like they were to implement denuvo anyway

anhminh · Oct 1, 2022

x65943 said:
It is because Nintendo is a Japanese company and the culture around protecting children from sexualization is not nearly as strong there

Funny you said that when Nintendo specifically block Little Witch Nobetta for the swimsuit while Steam give it a "A-Okay" immidiately.

pedro702 · Oct 1, 2022

anhminh said:
Funny you said that when Nintendo specifically block Little Witch Nobetta for the swimsuit while Steam give it a "A-Okay" immidiately.

blocked? the game is available on the e shop?

Xzi · Oct 1, 2022

There are any number of games on Steam with similar "school uniforms" included, so people are way off base in assuming that's the problem. If I had to guess, it's more likely about sexually explicit scenes involving characters that are very clearly denoted as being underage. All the other hentai games either lack context completely, or are sure to somehow mark their characters as being adults.

As they are a US-based company unlike Nintendo, it's hard to blame Valve for wanting to cover their bases, legally speaking.

inter4ever · Oct 1, 2022

Xzi said:
There are any number of games on Steam with similar "school uniforms" included, so people are way off base in assuming that's the problem. If I had to guess, it's more likely about sexually explicit scenes involving characters that are very clearly denoted as being underage. All the other hentai games either lack context completely, or are sure to somehow mark their characters as being adults.

As they are a US-based company unlike Nintendo, it's hard to blame Valve for wanting to cover their bases, legally speaking.

The game was rated by the ESRB. The game is being sold by US based retailers, including Walmart and Target. The game does not have “sexually explicit” content. People in the industry have been complaining about Valve’s inconsistencies when it comes to some of their reviewers for years now. Part of the problem is people defending them based on guesses instead of reality.

Xzi · Oct 1, 2022

inter4ever said:
Part of the problem is people defending them based on guesses instead of reality.

Then an equal part of the problem would be attacking them based on guesses instead of reality. These things tend to clarify themselves over time. TBH I'd be more invested in the situation if I cared at all about VNs, but they don't even truly qualify as "games" as far as I'm concerned.

inter4ever · Oct 1, 2022

Xzi said:
Then an equal part of the problem would be attacking them based on guesses instead of reality. These things tend to clarify themselves over time. TBH I'd be more invested in the situation if I cared at all about VNs, but they don't even truly qualify as "games" as far as I'm concerned.

Attacking them is an equal part of what problem again? The only one making guesses here is you though. The information is out there. The game has been out of years, no need to make guesses. Even when not invested you went to bat for Valve. That’s how they continue to do it years later. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022...game-barred-from-steam-will-launch-on-switch/

Xzi · Oct 1, 2022

inter4ever said:
The only one making guesses here is you though.

Apparently you didn't read the entire first page of people guessing the problem was the school uniforms. That theory doesn't hold water, however, as there are any number of games on Steam already which feature similar uniforms.

The problem seems to stem from a specific few guidelines reviewers at Valve. And that being the case, I believe there is an appeals process or the option to re-submit and try to get a different reviewer assigned to your game. Mountains out of molehills regardless.

inter4ever · Oct 1, 2022

Xzi said:
Apparently you didn't read the entire first page of people guessing the problem was the school uniforms. That theory doesn't hold water, however, as there are any number of games on Steam already which feature similar uniforms.

The problem seems to stem from a specific few guidelines reviewers at Valve. And that being the case, I believe there is an appeals process or the option to re-submit and try to get a different reviewer assigned to your game. Mountains out of molehills regardless.

The “guesses” were based on a trend set by Valve is the recent years for VNs only. Read the Arts Technica article which has quotes from people in the industry, and comments by people who worked on other VNs that got banned in a similar fashion. Meanwhile, your theory about “explicit sexual” scenes doesn’t hold water, because those scenes don’t exist. If Walmart and Nintendo of America are ok with selling the games on their stores, then there is one entity to blame here, no need for guesses. And FYI, once a game is banned and the listing gets pulled of the store, there is no recourse.

ChanseyIsTheBest · Oct 1, 2022

I've played the old fan translation version of C;H and honestly the gore is ten times worse then any of the 'sex' stuff which is just girls in bikinis, and some implied fantasy 'delusion' scenes which don't actually happen although one of them implies was sexual assault was going to happen before its cut off.

Gore stuff included but not limited to: a severed hand (that scene

), a green corpse skewered with stakes in its eyes, and man stuffed with a dead fetus inside and this isn't just described in text you get to see the images as well

Even stranger Chaos;Child the sequel is on Steam and roughly the same level of 'sexual content' and violence and Valve let that through fine.

Xzi · Oct 1, 2022

ChanseyIsTheBest said:
Even stranger Chaos;Child the sequel is on Steam and roughly the same level of 'sexual content' and violence and Valve let that through fine.

Yeah that definitely speaks to the luck of the draw in which reviewer each game gets assigned to them. If this was expected to sell in the millions and thus caused a bigger uproar, Valve would almost certainly review the case, but being niche as it is I wouldn't expect a reversal in this decision.

ChanseyIsTheBest · Oct 1, 2022

Xzi said:
Yeah that definitely speaks to the luck of the draw in which reviewer each game gets assigned to them. If this was expected to sell in the millions and thus caused a bigger uproar, Valve would almost certainly review the case, but being niche as it is I wouldn't expect a reversal in this decision.

What makes this interesting is that C;HN is arguably the highest profile game Valve has refused for release under its new policies. Spike Chunsoft isn't some no name tiny publisher (e.g. Mystery Dungeon games, Danganronpa) and Chaos;Head is a niche game don't get me wrong but it's franchise Sci;ADV is a high budget visual novel franchise which includes Steins;Gate (also on Steam) which is one of the best selling VNs in the West.

Plus this isn't like other VNs that are on PC only and haven't been rated by ratings boards, CH;N has been released on 360/PS3/PSP/PSV/Android/iOS. I don't think this will get overturned because Spike Chunsoft has already made a big statement about it anyhow and Valve doesn't seem like the type of company to change their mind,.

inter4ever · Oct 1, 2022

ChanseyIsTheBest said:
I've played the old fan translation version of C;H and honestly the gore is ten times worse then any of the 'sex' stuff which is just girls in bikinis, and some implied fantasy 'delusion' scenes which don't actually happen although one of them implies was sexual assault was going to happen before its cut off.

Gore stuff included but not limited to: a severed hand (that scene), a green corpse skewered with stakes in its eyes, and man stuffed with a dead fetus inside and this isn't just described in text you get to see the images as well

Even stranger Chaos;Child the sequel is on Steam and roughly the same level of 'sexual content' and violence and Valve let that through fine.

From what I read the latest NoAH port has been heavily censored for gore in two routes from the original release, which makes it even stranger.

Xzi · Oct 1, 2022

ChanseyIsTheBest said:
What makes this interesting is that C;HN is arguably the highest profile game Valve has refused for release under its new policies. Spike Chunsoft isn't some no name tiny publisher (e.g. Mystery Dungeon games, Danganronpa) and Chaos;Head is a niche game don't get me wrong but it's franchise Sci;ADV is a high budget visual novel franchise which includes Steins;Gate (also on Steam) which is one of the best selling VNs in the West.

Plus this isn't like other VNs that are on PC only and haven't been rated by ratings boards, CH;N has been released on 360/PS3/PSP/PSV/Android/iOS. I don't think this will get overturned because Spike Chunsoft has already made a big statement about it anyhow and Valve doesn't seem like the type of company to change their mind,.

Would certainly be nice to get some clarification on what exactly they were asked to change to meet guidelines, but I guess that would probably involve spoilers as well.

ChanseyIsTheBest · Oct 1, 2022

inter4ever said:
From what I read the latest NoAH port has been heavily censored for gore in two routes from the original release, which makes it even stranger.

Basically from what I understand the original 360 release was rated CERO Z, publisher wanted to get the rating down for better sales or maybe Sony didn't it like it back then I don't know for PS3/PSP/iOS/Android so they toned some of the gore down. When they ported it to Switch they based it off the PS3 version which was CERO D. What makes it weirder is that this new Switch release is CERO Z as well. Maybe the lost they source code of the 360 version.

According to Reddit the changes in the censored version of C;HN consist of
'Half of the lines in the B route, omitted a couple of lines from one of the character routes, and made a few minor changes in the common route. It makes no difference to your understanding of the game but it would certainly reduce the impact it has.'

From my own memory I am not 100% confident but I believe some of the gory images of decaying corpses have also been censored as well as the above text.

inter4ever · Oct 1, 2022

ChanseyIsTheBest said:
What makes it weirder is that this new Switch release is CERO Z as well

That’s probably because the physical release also comes bundled with Chaos;Child, which has that rating.

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