JAST has released a statement today giving folks an update on the status of Full Metal Daemon Muramasa’s Steam release, and it’s not good news. Valve is continuing their heavy handed approach to Visual Novel releases and has banned the game from releasing on Steam. This is despite JAST’s best efforts to work with them. In better news CD Projekt has reached out and has allowed them to release Muramasa on GOG this week. there will be other JAST titles such as Sony of Saya and Dead End Aegis releasing this week as well with more on the way later.
You can read JAST’s full statement below on Muramasa’s Steam release, but given the recent wave of Steam rejections Visual Novels fans should look to support their favorite title on other platforms. Otherwise Steam’s rules may eventually become so strict no publisher will be able to release any Visual Novel without a boatload of self censorship.
January 14, 2022In 2021, we released Full Metal Daemon Muramasa, our most anticipated title from Nitroplus, the acclaimed studio behind Super Sonico, Dramatical Murder, YOU and ME and HER, and Saya no Uta.However, after months of talks, Valve rejected Full Metal Daemon Muramasa for distribution on Steam, banning it from their platform. We at JAST have always been transparent with Valve, ensuring the quality of our games does not suffer when we must adjust content to fit the requirements of Steam. We hoped we could resolve Valve’s concerns amicably and ultimately deliver the game to the many fans waiting on Steam, but Valve is firm in their decision.Full Metal Daemon Muramasa is considered by many as a pinnacle piece of the visual novel genre. It dives into challenging and uncomfortable themes of war, sexual violence, racism, oppression, terrorism, and other atrocities; for the sake of artful storytelling. Steam has never had a policy against bad things happening in video games, and in fact Muramasa is unequivocal in its condemnation of these elements. Out of the darkness of Muramasa’s story emerges a statement on what it means to be a hero, to be human, to be family, to be friends; and in many ways, what it means to be.Our case is, unfortunately, not unique in the industry. An increasing number of visual novel games are getting unjustly banned from Steam, with no recourse. This creates an environment where publishers don’t release games like Muramasa because the risk is too high with Steam’s heavy-handed hold on the PC market, stifling the medium and forcing publishers to adopt self-censorship to survive.With 2021 behind us and Valve remaining intransigent, our friends at CD Projekt reached out and accepted Muramasa onto their platform, GOG. And so, we are excited to announce that Muramasa, Saya no Uta, Dead End Aegis, and many more of our titles are coming to the GOG store this week, with more to come in the future.Full Metal Daemon Muramasa is a masterpiece, and we at JAST owe our fans the deepest gratitude for the support they’ve shown by purchasing a copy directly from our store. Seeing its success has touched us all and reaffirmed our mission to share games, like Muramasa, with the world – regardless of the obstacles.If you want to support a future that doesn’t rely on a censorious platform or DRM, we urge you to pick up a copy of Muramasa (and your other games) directly from JAST or from our friends at GOG.– The JAST Team
