Persona 5: The Royal Will Change Homophobic Scenes For Western Release

Atlus confirmed to IGN that the beach scene, among others, will be updated in Royal after fan backlash.

[2pacalypsenow]

I guess western gamers are too sensitive.

Good thing too cuz It could cause anxiety on this side of the world, and make people run to their safe spaces.

[xTonyMontana]

State of pandering in the world, they'll find something new to to get anxious about soon enough. Meanwhile I'm off running to my angry space forced to do the happy dance. I seriously hope that is all they are "culturally localising" because honestly the implied rape and the aftermath bit would be up for the chopping block and that scene really shocked me initially and is an integral part to one of one of the main character's development.

[Mr Pumblechook]

The boys on ResetEra say 'hi'.

[JokerBoy422]

I'm a western gamer. This pandering drives me insane.

[bluefox755]

It drives all of us insane, why do companies keep folding to these crazy vocal minoirites.

[JokerBoy422]

@bluefox755

They do it because these whiners are very vocal and create an illusion of being the majority voice. There's the additional problem that anytime anyone argues against the whining minority they are then met with the counter of being ignorant, racist, close-minded, arrogant, homophobic, transphobic, etc... The majority group that isn't causing a problem is forced into submission to stay quiet in order for the minority group to be heard and cause problems.

[Fluttershy77]

Could someone describe the homophobic scenes?

[Juusterey]

If i remember right it's some kind of stereotypical gay guys implying that they're hitting on a guy and him being uncomfortable with the idea

[TheColbertinator]

@Fluttershy

The scene involves Ryuji (a minor) being harassed and dragged away by two stereotypical older gay men so they can touch him. The scene is more akin to zany Japanese humor than western situational humor.

The accusation of homophobia comes up because it makes the only openly gay men in the game seem like they are pushing homosexuality aggressively.

Personally I just don't find the scene funny but rather annoying. Atlus USA made the call on the deleted scene.

[rainslacker]

What Juustery says is pretty right.

I wouldn't call the scene homophobic. More that it portrays a negative stereotype about gay men. If it were straight men doing this scene it wouldn't be considered offensive, at least not to the point of people getting upset, because that kind of lecherous stuff really isn't that uncommon with this style of anime presentation. While I think it's proabably not good to represent things in such a way, it's more archetypal than stereotypical....as in it's an archetype of someone who's lecherous. The Japanese culture has a different view on such things than western culture. Game itself really isn't affected by it, although censorship sucks in general.

[xTonyMontana]

Scene is realistic actually, sorry gay men but that's how straight men feel about it. I give off a gay vibe and regularly get drunk men try it on with me and absolutely hate it.

[The Wood]

When I read some of the things I read about censorship I do wonder why some people go so far to fight against it. If something as a paedophilic theme I'm fine with that being scratched but I feel some people would be outraged. Too many nonces out here. I'm not for censorship for stupid reasons but certain areas deserve to be cut.

@TheColbertinator

Was that scene in the original P5 or just the Royal as I don't remember the scene?

To those who feel pissed about the changes; get the import .

[Juusterey]

@The Wood
If you're for censorship when it's something you don't like
then yes, you are for censorship

[bluefox755]

They weren't homophobic, it was just humor. Tired of the perpetually offended ruining things for the rest of us.

[The Wood]

Yeah. I guess I am then because I don't like pedophilia glorified. I understand the depiction of it but there's a fine line and my comment earlier wasn't about this game's censorship which I didn't agree with as I've asked if the same scene was in the original p5 which I had no issues with at all.

[Felix_Argyle_Catbro]

Ok so I don't buy the game. I don't really like things like censorship and altering things just because some people complain. Royal has sold horribly in Japan so it's a flop anyway, this isn't helping.

[NukeDaHippies]

Um... I don't think it is. Your loss tho.

[Argosax]

Lol I don't like it either, but It's an irrelevant detail. If you really believe that, never buy something from Capcom or Sony, they censored a five-second scene in DMC 5. Sony also have been doing this kind of thing for some time now.

[wwinterj]

I mean I still have the OG release and a nice steelbook so this just makes me not in any type of rush to buy royal if at all.

[The Wood]

Is this scene in the original or just in royal

[Question_Mark]

The game definitely wasn’t a flop in Japan. It debuted with over two hundred thousand sold and is now over half a million. That’s hardly a flop for sales in Japan alone.

[Zodiac]

Wow, the nerve! I mean, why is homophobia bad? /s

Everyone here is soooooo edgy

[Doge]

I'll laugh my ass off if they decide to boycott the game because they removed that pointless scene but also bought the Yakuza Remastered Collection lmao

[Juusterey]

who is they?

[Christopher]

The people here weren't going to buy it to begin with. Let's be honest. It's like me saying I'm going to boycott the next Forza game because there's no Herbie The Love Bug in it.

[rainslacker]

If western audiences actually boycotted games that censored during localization, then they'd probably never buy any of these games. I don't think there is a single localization where something that would probably never be looked at twice in Japanese culture, is some big thing that will upset the western audience, and has to be changed. All the companies that release Japanese otaku games in the west change or remove something because they don't think it will go over well.

[Fluttershy77]

Well, homophobia is bad.

[Zodiac]

I know, that’s why I put /s for sarcasm. Or is *s more common?

[frostypants]

Right? Kinda ironic how people scream about being too sensitive, whilst barely able to contain their own irritation over this change.

Like...so what? Oh no, they changed a homophobic scene...so? Is that so awful? People need to pick their battles better. They wind up sounding more sensitive than those they complain about.

[Zodiac]

Yes, The biggest “snowflakes” are people who complain about snowflakes.

[Hungryalpaca]

People just don’t like censorship. Doesn’t matter what it is.

[Fluttershy77]

/s = sarcasm I didn't knew that. Sorry millenial, it's really hard for me!

[Hungryalpaca]

Censorship is bad too you know. Come to think of it so is murder yet no one screeches about that in games.

[shammgod]

Censorship is bad.

[annoyedgamer]

Its just lOcAlIZaTiOn gaizz

/s

[rob-GP]

Do you understand what localisation is? It's not simply translating the game word-for-word, it's about adapting the context for the region the game is being sold in. What may be appropriate over in Japan may not suite the culture over here - hence the subtle changes and adjustments.

[Shiken]

I am curious if this is a Sony call or an Atlus call...

[Teflon02]

Sounds fine by me. Ain't going to stop me from buying

[LOGICWINS]

Then you’re part of the problem.

[Poopmist]

Preorder cancelled

[Fluttershy77]

mehhh don't lie, you didn't have a pre

[Juusterey]

Oh yay
more censored shit

[BrainSyphoned]

I guess all the flamboyant shows filled with gay men trying give straight guys the queer eye need to be cancelled immediately because of phobias.

[Stopac]

As a gay man they are blowing that scene way out of proportion Jesus Christ

[froy402]

You're comment reminded me of south park for some reason

[BrainSyphoned]

Mr. Slave!

[wwinterj]

As a none gay man I agree.

[warriorcase]

I know right. The scene in question was not only very brief but really wasn't that bad.

[MasterCornholio]

Hu huh

https://lparchive.org/Perso...

https://i.imgur.com/sYUT6.j...

[TheGamez100]

This is also a reason why I feared persona getting so popular. The easily offended and sjws that for some reason will pick the game up. Ugh, its always these guys that get heard and everyone else that just enjoys the game gets affected because of like .000001% of the people who've played it. Its a japanese game made by jp devs with different views and cultures from us western folk I mean come on. Redicilous time we now live in...

[rainslacker]

Even the unpopular games have been getting censored for years. Happened even before all this outrage culture got called as such. Same thing went on back in the Working Design days with the Genesis games they released. It's extremely rare to see any localized game, or even anime, that hasn't had something changed or removed completely.

Not that that's a good thing, just that if people really take a stand on it, they're going to end up being hypocrites. I know there are levels of what's acceptable, and I find this one silly considering the scene. But, last gen these companies were raked over the coals because of those niche games which made them out to be kiddie porn sims, and they just don't want to deal with that stuff, despite their target audience actually wanting things to be more authentic.

[wwinterj]

It really does suck that snowflakes have to ruin everything. Persona 5 deals with mature themes and does it well. Can't handle it? Don't buy it. What's worse is that these devs are pandering to these snowflakes.

[NukeDaHippies]

It's too late. Whats the point of removing it now? Nitwits

[Elda]

It's a scene that's been edited that some people found offensive. I don't even remember that scene so I won't be missing anything. I'll be buying this when discounted,I can't see myself paying $60 to play again with just some new dlc & some minor added adjustments in the game. The game should have a price tag of $30 or no more than $40.

[Harkins1721]

It's only homopohic to non fans

[Furesis]

weird. what a time we are living in. it's like we're going backwards now

[RPGer]

Exactly old time ooooh it supporting gay let's kill it, now oooooh it is not supporting and anti gay let's kill it. It is same thing but swings exact opposite side. (Fake Freedom)

[wwinterj]

This is the thing. Folk get representation in these games so they have nothing to moan about right? Wrong! The representation is never right so some folk MUST be outraged no matter what!

[Hungryalpaca]

They want equal representation until they’re equally bad looking. Then it’s bad and needs to go.

Hate to break it to you folks. This is what equality is. You get treated the same as everyone else. Stereotypes and all.

[criticalkare]

🤷‍♂️

[VsAssassin]

Not to spoil anything, but the character who gets involved with that gay NPC isn't homophobic at all. I mean, in the vanilla version, he wasn't "scared" of the gay NPC, he just didn't like the thought of being taken advantage of by such a person. I get it though--these days, when you disagree with someone or dislike something, you will be called names and be categorized as having phobia to those things you dislike or disagree with.

[rainslacker]

Journalists nowadays are stupid and don't know the proper terminology to use. Its a scene which could be said to perpetuate a negative stereotype, but even then, I feel that's stretching it, and I really don't know who was calling for it to be changed. Atlus and NISA have been pretty fervent in trying to avoid controversy that comes from culture clash though, which is why so many games are getting changes.

[PaleMoonDeath]

Don't. Alter. Art.

[Christopher]

Complaining about censorship and you want to make homophobic content your hill to stand upon?

Cool take.

Guess they should have ignored those fans and listened to you folks here who only care to mock that people want better by inferring they're weak?

I'm not trying to stand up for censorship in general, it doesn't make sense a lot of the times, but homophobic content in a game aimed at teens seems to be something we can let go when even the fans ask for it.

[LOGICWINS]

No! I want the writers ORIGINAL vision, uncensored in all its glory.

[Christopher]

It's still in Persona 5, isn't it? Just won't be on Royal.

[2pacalypsenow]

Homophobia exists in the world, what this is doing is washing it and pretending it doesn’t exists just so some people don’t get their stupid feelings hurt.

What’s next, get rid of war games because war is ugly and can offend people?

This is what’s wrong in the world today, we’re changing history and science just make a small percentage of the world feel better. This isn’t helping anyone.

[Christopher]

Not the best arguments. Child rape exists as well, but we don't put that on screen.

No one is changing history or science by censoring the re-release of a game that already has those parts in them.

I think you're taking your feelings about one thing and applying them with a broad brush to everything here.

[2pacalypsenow]

You see child rape in tv shows all the time.

Law in order SVU has been doing this for over 20 years.

[Christopher]

***You see child rape in tv shows all the time.***

Well that's just not true. You hear about child rape, but you don't see it.

[2pacalypsenow]

That’s because explicitly showing that is more severe than making a gay joke.

Plus American tv rating system is a joke, you can show someone getting their head chopped off, but showing a nipple sends everyone over the top rope, same applies to game ratings.

[Juusterey]

They shouldn't have listened to anyone, they should have done what they wanted to do
but sure, guess they should listen to the oversensitive
no more skin showing, no more anything that anyone could be offended by

"i;m not supporting censorship, unless it's something I don't like"

[Christopher]

Best business advice out there, don't listen to your customers.

And love how those fans are oversensitive but you're not even though you're here complaining about the changes.

[Haki1112]

@Christopher Devs should be listening to their customers we buy the game...the people who are complaining about this scene aren't customers at all we learned that from when they complain about a movie or game they don't go see or buy the things they complain about.

[SegaGamer]

You're being as over dramatic as the people asking for it to be censored. It's not even homophobic, it's just two camp characters making another character feel uncomfortable. Get a grip for christ sake, it's just a joke.

[Christopher]

Now who's being over dramatic?

[SegaGamer]

@Christopher

Telling you to get a grip isn't overdramatic.

[Christopher]

It's way more dramatic than anything I said, especially since you added "for christ sake" to it.

[rainslacker]

Well...the content itself isn't homophobic, that's just the journalist using the wrong terminology.

A phobia is the fear of something. The scene doesn't depict that, at least not in the context it's being used here. There's anxiety, but that's more situational, and honestly, probably wouldn't be an atypical reaction from any normal person, assuming they behaved like anime characters who somehow can't manage to not be made to do something when they don't want to for the purpose of comedic effect. Similar scenes can play out with the exact same story arc beats without it being homosexuals as the aggressors. Hell, there are whole genres of popular anime which have a male character who ends up somehow getting into situations beyond their control, and experiencing huge amounts of anxiety, because of some female(or multiple females) take it upon themselves to do their own thing. One of my favorites, Tenchi Muyo is pretty much this(sans the anxiety and Tenchi is more indifferent or oblivious). Ranma 1/2 is hugely popular in anime and Manga, and that's pretty much every episode, and it often has homosexual overtones because of the nature of the overall premise of the story. InuYasha, yep, super popular, yet it's a common situation.

Also, the game isn't aimed at teens. It has a Mature rating, and is rated Cero in Japan, which is 15 and up. The content shown in the game, has similar situations brought up in any given anime in Japan on a regular basis, on national broadcast channels, at times when teens watch TV.

[Christopher]

Eh. Bit pedantic as homophobic has come to embrace homosexual ridiculing as well. "Calling someone that is homophobic" essentially. We can debate that all day, but it is what it is as far as the use of language in general around these things (misogynistic, racist, etc.).

I don't see what other stories, especially those from the early/mid 90s, have to do with this game and in this day and age of access to those who make content.

It might be mature rated, but it's teen characters aimed at other teens. That's like saying 13-year-olds aren't the aim of GTA even though they play the heck out of it.

I'm a fan of a lot of things that have ridiculed such things, even Ranma 1/2, but I'm not going to jump on anything for improving mediums when it's pretty lazy-assed to rely on things for comedy (that's just my opinion).

As I said, it's a silly hill to make a stand on when there are much better representations (the lameness of censorship in DMC5 for example which actually draws more attention to what they are trying to hide).

[rainslacker]

I know what it's come to mean, and I'd be the first to cite common vernacular on many phrases. But in this case, it's a completely improper use of the term. The press, and a lot of those who rail against such things have been bastardizing the term in a way to make it more, or worse than what it actually is, and try to disparage against those who may support it. On top of that, the only people that do use the term in this manner are those who do the above. Some in the media use the term either improperly, or with the same intent, and either way, it's not proper.

I cited content I'm familar with from the 90's, since that's when I most watched anime. But such common scenarios are still common in anime. There's a culture clash involved which is unlikely to be overcome, and I don't really care to get into who's right or wrong there. My point was that the target audience for these games is going to more likely be those who are into anime itself, and as a general rule of thumb, anime fans tend to prefer authenticity over political correctness. I'd say most have come to accept that they'll never get it from localized media, and many still speak out against it, but it comes down to if the changes made are enough to take away from the product itself. In the case of this game, I'd have to say it's not going to take anything away. But, in many animes, it's a core part of the story.

As far as the age rating, are we really going to play the "think of the children card"? Can't we literally do that with every game in existence? Having a teen in a game, movie, or whatever, does not mean that it's rated at teens. Young adult would be a more appropriate age range given the characters, and the themes presented within.

I'm not going to jump all over this particular censorship, but I am not that impressed with their reasons for it. Any time I see a company say it's because of "feedback", I know they are just trying to avoid controversy. While there are instances where it makes sense, in this case, these controversies are not really coming from the people most apt to buy the game. Just go to any Atlus or NISA forum on these matters, and without fail, you will see fans who regularly buy their games complaining about this.

I think we should really take a stand against all censorship. However, as I said, there are times where it does make sense from a cultural perspective. I also don't believe all changes are so damaging to the product that it warrants boycotts or going to the extreme to be upset about it. There are most certainly things that are OK to present in Japan that would never fly in the west, just in this case, the reasons, and what is being shown, doesn't really require censorship.

[Hungryalpaca]

so you’re pro censorship. Got it.

[Christopher]

If that's what you took away from my comment, then you're pro reading comprehension failure.

I literally wrote "I'm not trying to stand up for censorship in general, it doesn't make sense a lot of the times..."

[Hungryalpaca]

And then you go on to justify why this should be censored dude. You’re pro censorship. It doesn’t matter if you say you’re not. You negated that in the next sentence.

[Question_Mark]

Except the scene wasn’t homophobic at all. It was just blown out of proportion by people who get offended easily.

[goldwyncq]

Are they insinuating that gay people can’t take jokes?

I guess an underage boy having romantic relationships with adults (including his teacher) is fine but a gay joke is taking it too far.

[Juusterey]

yup
a character being sexually assaulted and attempting suicide is fine
but this?! too far

[Chexs1990]

I probably put in 200 hours in that game, and I don't really recall any homophobic scene per se?

[feenix-5]

Oh good lord..... bunch of candy asses

[carcarias]

What I wonder is that if some folks truly believe a silly, exaggerated caricature made for comedy purposes is homophobic, yet it's not being removed from the Asian version, then do they think our Japanese friends are a bunch of nasty, hate-filled people?

If not, then why can't we be in on the joke too?

[AK91]

Ugh

[Argosax]

I mean, 150 hours of gameplay. A 30 seconds-scene was cut. I kinda don't give a crap about said scene. So nothing changes for me, pre order continued.

[Juusterey]

Hope you feel the same when they keep removing stuff for the same reasons

[Argosax]

I'll be the first to complain when they remove something of actual importance.

[Juusterey]

Oh
nice to know
you'll complain when it's too late

[ScootaKuH]

What!? This is disappointing. It's a game that focuses on real life issues, and does so sensitively and with respect. There's no need for it to be sanitised to cater for the snowflake generation.

I'm was looking forward to this. P5 is one of my favourite games of this generation. I'm still going to get it but knowing I'm getting a slightly watered down version of the game is disappointing somewhat

[CrimsonWing69]

Omg quit with the censorship! I am tired of this bs!

[silenthillstrangler]

what the hell is homophobic about it? im gay, ive known a shit tonne of guys that act like that, its not a stereotype its real.

[Hungryalpaca]

Every time I see people say this kind of stuff needs to be censored, I just assume they’re homophobic. They don’t think gays can handle being the butt of the joke like everyone else. They literally think gays can’t handle situations like other folks.

I’m bi and I find it incredibly insulting.

You normalize things through comedy generally. Making a joke, even if it’s homophobic, makes people more accepting. Ffs no one cries about death jokes and death is ultimate.

[xXMessiah23Xx]

Why bother when other games throw that in your face. Give us a choice please. Let anyone love anyone they want just dont force it upon everyone.

[Jon_Targaryen]

And here I am waiting for a pc release...

[amagulick]

When they say "fan backlash" they mean journalists right?

[BadElf]

Terrible...

[AsunaYuukiTheFlash]

Cant wait for this game! It took me 98 hrs to plat the first game, so I'm expecting around 80 hrs for this new one.

[Hungryalpaca]

So much for treating gays equally. Gotta protect em cuz theyre special, not equal.

Or they’ll get upset.

Either way you try and spin it, you’re saying gay people aren’t capable of handling jokes. IMO, that is FAR more homophobic than any joke. You’re removing their agency and saying literally they’re not equal to straight people.

[mandingo]

Censorship booooo