Nintendo comments on Dispatch’s Nintendo Switch 2 censorship

Nintendo has commented on why Dispatch has been censored on Nintendo Switch platforms.

Earlier this week, Dispatch, the episodic narrative adventure game by AdHoc Studio – set up by veteran developers from Telltale Games, Ubisoft, and Night School Studio –was released on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.

However, shortly after the game’s release, fans noticed that the Nintendo Switch version includes permanent censorship not present in other versions.

Dispatch features some scenes of nudity, where breasts and penises are visible. In some instances, like one moment very early into the game, these are used for comedic effect, rather than in a sexual manner. All versions of the game include a setting to enable a visual censorship option which covers them with a black bar (as well as other things like middle finger gestures), but, as discovered this week, on Switch and Switch 2 this option is on by default, and there’s no way to turn it off.

Now, Nintendo has released a statement in response to the fan outcry over the censorship of the game, but has shed little light on the specific reason for the censorship.

In a statement shared with GoNintendo, the publisher claimed that Nintendo itself doesn’t make changes to game content, and that development partners are fully aware of platform restrictions.

“Nintendo requires all games on its platforms to receive ratings from independent organizations and to meet our established content and platform guidelines.

“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.”

During our original reporting, VGC theorised that one possible reason for the censorship is the way games are sold across different regions on the Nintendo eShop. Often, the eShop hosts a single game across multiple languages, and the game simply changes its language depending on the system settings of the console.

In cases like this, the single version of the game must pass certification with each regional ratings board, many of which vary greatly in terms of what they deem appropriate for certain age groups.

If this is the reason, one way to get around this could be to release two versions of the same game on the eShop, and restrict them to certain regions.

CDProjekt did this with the Switch 2 version of Cyberpunk 2077 due to the game’s extreme content, including graphic violence and nudity. The version released in the West isn’t available on the Japanese eShop, which instead offers an entirely separate CERO Z-rated version of the game with no nudity or decapitations.