Ubisoft censors nude statues in Assassin's Creed: Origins' Discovery Tour mode

[Plumpbiscuit]

Sourced from: RPS

In the real world where nude statues can be seen by any persons, sex or age, Ubisoft have taken the liberty to remove those oh-so nasty bits, but will keep all the glorified violence. [Mod edit: this may be inaccurate, it appears this tour mode has no combat/enemies/violence either, for what it's worth. Note that the actual game isn't censored, only this particular, standalone mode.]

Anybody else think this is incredibly dumb? I mean, education sources don't censor them but a mature video games does. Am I missing something here?

 

[NattyBo]

Sourced from: RPS

Anybody else think this is incredibly dumb?

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Yes. Frankly I'm surprised a European company would do this. Might expect it from American developers. Seems like the whole world has it's priorities mixed up sometimes. In a game where you can kill people gruesomely, the real problem is naked statues. Right

 

[SaberVS7]

...Wow...

That's...

Pathetic.

 

[drewfonse]

No schlong, no sale

 

[Deleted member 39587]

I think they have to if they want to get a T rating for the educational standalone version.

 

[Lite_Agent]

"Game" is rated PEGI12, so I guess it's due to that. "Problem" probably comes from the rating boards, kinda like Facebook banning people posting that painting with the naked woman (forgot the name >.>) because it depics nudity.

 

[catboy]

Is assassins creed origins going to be the new hot button social issue lmao

won't somebody pls think of the HISTORICAL ACCURACY SCREEEEEEEEECH

 

[Starlatine]

Discover dumb censorship

Seems like a valuable lesson for today's youth

 

[Monorojo]

Seems unnecessary but can you blame them with the outrage culture of today?

Better be safe than sorry

 

[Master Alucard]

we had Rouhani coming here in Italy for a visit and they actually covered nude statues. he was pleased

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Assassin's Creed


This is ridiculous...

 

[Weltall Zero]

The Simpsons were visionaries.

 

[Nirolak]

Is this not an ESRB and/or PEGI issue? They have weird hang-ups sometimes.

 

[Doffen]

Not very French of them.

 

[WestEgg]

Didn't one of the statue decorations in Animal Crossing have a noticeable penis?

Edit: Yep!
https://kotaku.com/fyi-butts-are-off-limits-in-nintendo-games-but-penise-489492010

 

[Dust]

... is that Julius Caesar?

 

[Redmond Barry]

PERFECT CENSORSHIP

 

[AllBusinessJr]

So art history is now obscenity? This is mind boggling.

 

[Sesha]

That's just sad. I wonder if the "THEY ARE CENSORING OUR GAMES" crowd will be up in arms about this.

Who am I kidding. Of course they won't.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

I'm sure it has to do with the ratings boards requiring it. That said, there was that incident in Utah a few months back where the teacher was reprimanded and possibly fired for showing classical artwork that included nude paintings/sculpture...despite that sort of thing being shown in classrooms across the country every day.

 

[lucebuce]

It's so weird, considering the game already has nude female NPCs roaming around lol.

 

[Lite_Agent]

Is this not an ESRB and/or PEGI issue? They have weird hang-ups sometimes.

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Pretty certain it is. Games, for some reason, are held to much stricter standards when it comes to nudity.

 

[ResetGreyWolf]

Really strange. Many European cities have naked statues, lol. There are plenty in my hometown. Is this a universal censorship or only for certain regions?

 

[eddy]

I'm going to assume this is some sort of joke.

 

[JazzmanZ]

w.

 

[SuperBanana]

 

[Booker.DeWitt]

 

[sns97]

It's so weird, considering the game already has nude female NPCs roaming around lol.

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The statues aren't censored in the full game.

 

[NoKisum]

Ubisoft is just saving their asses in case white middle American moms get pissed at schools and the company for showing Lil' Timmy or Mary Sue hardcore pornography.

 

[Faithless]

That's sad... and strange.
I guess they do this mostly for US market :(

 

[WestEgg]

Found it!

 

[Mizeris Lutz Ether Lanai]

Just so everybody knows, these aren't censored at all in the main game, that should probably be mentioned in the OP.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled internet dogpile.

 

[yap]

The statues aren't censored in the full game.

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Ah so as I understand, Discovery Tour is a seperate release? With a lesser rating right?

 

[King Onion]

This actually upsets me. It 100% devalues the whole product and I imagine any educators who might have used this for teaching will steer clear.

This type of stuff is a big deal in academia.

 

[stan423321]

Look Ubisoft, I am not an average forum dweller, I am not going to condemn you for censoring things, but when you censor you should be proud of it. Why didn't you deploy black boxes or something like that? Black boxes or bust!

 

[Rookhelm]

FYI, Tour mode has no violence and is a sort of standalone mode you can buy separately purely for exploring.

Doesn't really excuse the changes, though, but that's probably more on ESRB than it is Ubisoft

 

[Carpathia]

Ubisoft is just saving their asses in case white middle American moms get pissed at schools and the company for showing Lil' Timmy or Mary Sue hardcore pornography.

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Exactly my reaction. This mode is probably going to be used in schools.

 

[Lackless]

The real fault should go to the ESRB.

 

[Schwinner]

I think they have to if they want to get a T rating for the educational standalone version.

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It is something you can clearly see in history books uncensored that is seen in schools. I am not a big fan of censoring history even if it is just for that version. I understand though why Ubi would do that. ESRB sucks, they should make exception for stuff like that.

 

[Protome]

This is silly, I somewhat get why they did it because this mode is aimed at kids/as an educational thing. But it's still silly.

but will keep all the glorified violence.

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Isn't the whole purpose of the Tour Mode that it removes the combat too? It's about exploring and the game pointing out the parts based on actual landmarks and historical sites/objects.

 

[Plumpbiscuit]

Just so everybody knows, these aren't censored at all in the main game, that should probably be mentioned in the OP.

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Read the thread title again.

 

[Morrigan]

What the...??

There are topless/nude NPCs (usually prostitutes) roaming about in the game. There are even brothels with erotic art on the walls. Are those censored too?

And those seashells OMG hahaha, this is ridiculous. Come on Ubisoft. Rating board or not, I can't believe a nude classic Greek statue wouldn't pass a T-rating. Are the brutal assassinations still in that mode? [Edit: just saw posts above mine while I was typing, guess not, at least it's consistent but still, SMH]

 

[chadskin]

Lotsa uninformed posters in here.

Discovery Tour is a new, separate mode from the game. Ubisoft wants schools and children to use it for educational purposes, which is why it's also sold standalone on PC.

 

[Derrick01]

They're really going out of their way not to risk offending anyone with this thing.

 

[Alastor3]

Yes. Frankly I'm surprised a European company would do this. Might expect it from American developers. Seems like the whole world has it's priorities mixed up sometimes. In a game where you can kill people gruesomely, the real problem is naked statues. Right

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Ubisoft Montréal made Origin, not Ubisoft Paris

 

[gcwy]

Weird. Nude statues aren't censored in real life so I don't know what they were trying to achieve by doing this.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

Rating agency, how do they work?

I'll leave you all to your uninformed knee jerk reaction though.

 

[VorpalNonsense]

Theyre probably not doing it because they personally believe it is necessary, but are doing it so that it could potentially see adoption in american classrooms where there will always be parents that will cry and fight at the sight of a nipple. They'd potentially see a lot more money if they keep everyone happy with an E rating for tour mode.

 

[Link Gray]

Read the thread title again.

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Your title reads one thing, the OP is reading another.

 

[scottbeowulf]

Exactly my reaction. This mode is probably going to be used in schools.

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Exactly. People are reacting like they censored the regular game. Anyone who's played that can tell you there's plenty of nudity and gore in Origins. This is just for educational purposes. I don't see the problem with it. By doing this it can be used from k-12.