Senran Kagura game delayed on PS4 after Sony requests removal of Intimacy Mode

Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal's PlayStation 4 release has been delayed after Sony told the publisher to remove its Intimacy Mode.

Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal is an anime-styled video game about high school girl ninjas whose clothes are torn off. It carries a PEGI 16 rating in Europe "for erotic activity and the use of sexual expletive". The Intimacy Mode in question lets players spray down and grope the girls. It is, essentially, a molesting underage girls mode.

The announcement came from the Twitter account of XSeed, the publisher of the game in the US. On these shores, Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal is published by Marvelous Europe and distributed by PQube, with a PS4 release date of 16th November 2018. According to XSeed, the planned Steam version will release with the Intimacy Mode intact, and both versions will launch simultaneously.

pic.twitter.com/fSusj7sGzz

The situation with Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal rekindles memories of adult anime game Omega Labyrinth Z, which was due to be published in the west by PQube before its release was blocked by Sony.

In a tweet, Xseed localisation producer Tom Lipschultz responded to a fan who asked why Intimacy Mode was a problem now after it had made it into past Senran Kagura games released on PS4 in the west by saying "this is a brand new policy" at Sony.

Because this is a brand new policy.

Lipschultz went on to suggest Sony's issue with the Intimacy Mode had less to do with the young-looking characters and more to do with the interactivity of the mode.

I'm sure the age of the characters doesn't help, but I believe it's the interactivity in general that's the issue. I don't believe changing the ages would make any difference.

It sounds like Sony's on something of a cleanup drive when it comes to video games released on PS4. In March, it slapped down the launch of creepy "pick-up artist" game Super Seducer just days before its planned debut on PS4. Then Omega Labyrinth Z was cancelled, and now Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal has had to be changed to secure release.

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