The episodic superhero comedy Dispatch released late last year on PlayStation 5 and PC to rave reviews from fans and critics alike. Just this week, the game made its way over to a new system with the release of the Nintendo Switch version of the game. However, unbeknownst to excited fans prior to the new release, the Nintendo Switch version of the game features permanent censorship not featured in the other versions of the game. In the wake of this discovery, both the developer AdHoc and Nintendo themselves to release statements in regard to the censorship.
Dispatch, while being a superhero comedy, is targeted to an adult audience with its M rating from the ESRB for featuring things such as nudity and sexual content. On the PlayStation 5 and PC, the game features many accessibility options such an option for player to turn on “visual censorship” which will censor things such as nudity in the game with those black bars that were commonly used on TV to censor the same things. However, with the Nintendo Switch version, the “visual censorship” is automatically turned on with no way to disable it.
It a statement to Eurogamer, the developers mentioned how different platforms have different criteria when it comes to what games release on said platforms. They tried to reassure fans by stating, “We worked with Nintendo to ensure the content within the title met the criteria to release on their platforms, but the core narrative and gameplay experience remains identical to the original release.”
Following the statement from AdHoc, Nintendo has also responded to the situation to give further clarity to fans. In their statement, Nintendo claims, “While we inform partners when their titles don’t meet our guidelines, Nintendo does not make changes to partner content. We also do not discuss specific content or the criteria used in making these determinations.” Thus, putting the onus back onto AdHoc for including the permanent censorship in the game.
These statements haven’t brought much relief to fans of the game. Many fans are still upset by the permanent censorship and either canceled preorders or tried returning the game outright. Even AdHoc’s post on X about the release of the game on Switch has received a community note commenting on how that version of the game has been censor. It is unknown as to if there will be an update in the future that will allow Nintendo Switch players to turn off the censorship or what will happen next with the Switch version of Dispatch.