CHAOS;HEAD NOAH was set for release on Steam next month, bringing the translation of the 2009 visual novel to PC for the first time. There's been a sudden change in plans, though, as publisher Spike Chunsoft has canceled the PC port of the game just a week before its scheduled release. The reason behind the cancellation is vague, but has something to do with Steam wanting to make "guideline-required changes" to the game, to which Spike Chunsoft declined to do, as they believe it "would not allow the game to be released to its standards".

For now, Spike is looking into getting the game released on other PC storefronts, with an update to be given at a later date. The Nintendo Switch version of the game is unaffected by all this, and is still slated for a release on October 7th.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (September 30, 2022) - Spike Chunsoft, Inc. today regrets to announce that it will not be able to release CHAOS;HEAD NOAH on Steam as originally planned due to Steam's guideline-required changes to the game's content. Spike Chunsoft, Inc. believes these changes would not allow the game to be released to its standards. The company extends its sincerest apologies to all of the fans looking forward to this release. The company is looking into delivering the title through alternative storefronts, and when details are decided will make another formal announcement. Until then the company appreciates your patience and understanding. Please also rest assured the Nintendo Switch version is not affected and will release on October 7, 2022, as scheduled.

Source

 

[ChanseyIsTheBest]

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

CH;N is also sold separately outside of the bundle on the JP eShop as CERO Z as well at least that's what it shows up on the JP Nintendo site.

 

[Flirkyn]

So...
According to Steam randomness :
- Saya no Uta, a very gory vn with some H scenes with a loli and a fucked up story => Fine to publish. Seem like the hscenes was removed but even without them the game is already fucked up tbh
- Kara no Shoujo, a murder mystery in a highschool with some graphic scenes and some H scenes => Fine, and you don't need a patch

But...
- Chaos;Head Noah, a gory game but without any H scenes (some suggestive ones but if it's like the non Noah version, it's pretty tame) but less gory than some other games on Steam and based on a censored version of the game, and for which the rest of the saga is on Steam, including the direct sequel that is sometime as gory => Get that out of my store

....... Welp... Good thing I was planning to get it on switch, but yeah, pretty stupid I've played the non Noah version and there is way worse on Steam, and I don't think Noah is that much horrible that the OG game

 

[Cris1997XX]

Steam is just like that with VNs. Long history of random rejections and lack of transparency. Apparently some reviewers at Valve has a thing against school uniforms in Japanese VNs. You can buy the game on the Switch from Walmart now, and ESRB rated it mature, so clearly it’s a Valve issue.

Ironic how there's fetish-y VNs with furry shit on Steam YET this innocuous stuff is not allowed there. If there's a port on Switch I might as well pirate it and run it on an emulator

 

[Cris1997XX]

Alright, so I've read about a possible reason for this ban (Along with others). There's a certain female Valve employee who checks un-released games before allowing them on the store on a daily basis, she is Asian and hates anything anime, so she rejects all those Japanese titles with school settings every time they pop up. That makes me wonder...why the hell would a single person be allowed to have so much power in a company?

 

[Guacaholey]

Alright, so I've read about a possible reason for this ban (Along with others). There's a certain female Valve employee who checks un-released games before allowing them on the store on a daily basis, she is Asian and hates anything anime, so she rejects all those Japanese titles with school settings every time they pop up. That makes me wonder...why the hell would a single person be allowed to have so much power in a company?

She's clearly a member of the Committee of 300.

 

[Xzi]

Valve has reversed course and the game will be releasing as-is on Steam today.

https://noisypixel.net/chaos-head-noah-launching-on-pc-via-steam-tomorrow/

"Valve’s content review team, the group that made the original decision, has re-examined CHAOS;HEAD NOAH and decided to reverse course and allow the game to ship on Steam, as is. We’ve also examined the process that led to the previous decision about CHAOS;HEAD NOAH, and made some changes to avoid situations like this in the future.”

 

[Cris1997XX]

Valve has reversed course and the game will be releasing as-is on Steam today.

https://noisypixel.net/chaos-head-noah-launching-on-pc-via-steam-tomorrow/

"Valve’s content review team, the group that made the original decision, has re-examined CHAOS;HEAD NOAH and decided to reverse course and allow the game to ship on Steam, as is. We’ve also examined the process that led to the previous decision about CHAOS;HEAD NOAH, and made some changes to avoid situations like this in the future.”

Oh look, what a coincidence! Could it be they gave the boot to that certain person??

 

[Xzi]

Oh look, what a coincidence! Could it be they gave the boot to that certain person??

Perhaps, or maybe they just won't be assigned to anime games from now on. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[KingVamp]

Good. The censorship is bad enough, we don't need bias censorship on top of that.

 

[Cris1997XX]

Good. The censorship is bad enough, we don't need bias censorship on top of that.

You forgot the localization being shite lmao

 

[ChanseyIsTheBest]

Good. The censorship is bad enough, we don't need bias censorship on top of that.

You forgot the localization being shite lmao

If your going to play CH;N wait another month for the FanTL that's coming out for Switch/PC - Committee of Zero have been working on it for 5 years and its the uncensored version of the game and their previous fan translation work on Robotics;Notes and Chaos;Child have been stellar.

 

[KingVamp]

I was talking generally, not just this game.

 

[Jayro]

According to the front page, this thread aged like a fine milk.