The Callisto Protocol will not see a release in Japan after its developers refused to change the game to meet the country's rating requirements. Keep reading to learn more about it.

Striking Distance, the game development studio behind The Callisto Protocol, tweeted on the game's Japanese Twitter account about the situation. They said that the company decided to discontinue the Japanese edition of the game. This is due to the game not receiving a rating from the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization, or CERO for short. For those not familiar, CERO's rating system uses letters to rate games. The ratings go from A to D, then jump to Z. A game with a Z rating is for those 18 and above, meaning it is illegal for minors below that age to buy the game. The tweet heavily implies that CERO did not even want to give The Callisto Protocol a Z rating, as it mentions CERO giving the company a list of changes to implement for the game to receive a rating.

Striking Distance, however, did not want to implement these changes, as it would “not provide the experience that players expect”. As such, they just decided to cancel the game's release altogether. The team also says that they hope the Japanese players would understand. They are also giving refunds to those who pre-ordered the game. It was not explicitly stated what prevented CERO from giving a rating. However, it's most likely due to the game's violence. This isn't the first time that a game's Japanese version became less violent to meet Japanese rating standards. For example, the amputation scenes in Resident Evil VII are different in the Japanese version of the game.

Because of this, players in Japan will no longer be able to get a copy of The Callisto Protocol through normal means. Some replies to the tweet, however, are saying that it's still possible to play the game in Japanese. This is due to the foreign language options available in the game including Japanese. However, this would require Japanese players to find a workaround to be able to buy the game. Either way, this is a sad piece of news for Japanese players who were looking forward to playing the game.

The Callisto Protocol releases on December 2, 2022. For more details about its release, click here.