Author’s Note: This article will contain spoilers for events that happen in Devil May Cry 5. Read at your own risk. Also, some screenshots may be considered NSFW, please take that into account as well.
After the release of Devil May Cry 5, it became apparent to players of the game that there were differences between the different versions of the game. And I don’t mean with gameplay or framerate or anything like that. A certain scene in the game was censored, specifically for owners of the western PS4 version.
The scene in question takes place after you defeat Cavaliere Angelo at the end of Mission 11. Dante rescues a certain female character, and the character is nude when rescued. While Dante is carrying her, her backside is, for some reason, blocked by a ray of light. I can confirm that this ray of light appears, as I played the PS4 version myself. However, it appears this ray of light only appears in western PS4 copies of the game. Players who own the Xbox One version, PC version and the Japanese PS4 version are not affected by this censor. It should be noted, this censor is added in a Day One patch for the western PS4 version. You can check out screenshots of the scene in question below. The western PS4 screenshots were taken by me. The Xbox One, PC, and Japanese PS4 screenshots are provided by Twinfinite. Please note, the following may be NSFW.
Western PS4 Screenshots
Japanese PS4 Screenshot (from tail0902)
PC Version Screenshot (from xAreios)
Xbox One Version Screenshot (from meghan_yeah)
It should be noted that the game isn’t completely uncensored for any version of the game. A scene occurs earlier in the game where a certain female character removes a towel, and her behind is covered by a ray of light. This scene is the same for all versions of the game: PS4, Xbox One, and PC. If you’re curious about that scene, you can check out a screenshot of it below. Once again, please note, that this screenshot may be considered NSFW.
It should be noted that the tone of this scene and the tone of the scene in Mission 11 are completely different. The scene with the towel is more comedic in nature, so the ray of light adds to the lightheartedness of the scene. The Mission 11 scene is much more serious and the ray of light seems out of place and makes no sense being there.
This would not be the first time Sony has made a Japanese game developer edit or change content for a game that would be released on their platform. Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal had its Intimacy mode removed for its release in the west for PS4. This mode stayed intact for the PC release. Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart had CG’s edited with beams of light for its PS4 release. Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation will have two edited CG’s for its release on PS4. The PC release will not have those changes. In the most extreme case, Omega Labyrinth Z was barred from even being released on their platforms (PS4 and Vita) in the west.
Devil May Cry 5 is the first AAA Japanese-developed game to be hit by Sony’s recent censorship campaign. The game is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.
The following is my take on the whole situation.
This is just proof that it doesn’t matter how big of a series it is, nothing is safe from Sony’s recent censorship campaign. If a game like Devil May Cry 5 can be affected by this, any game can get hit. And it’s clear Sony is only targeting Japanese-developed games when it comes to this campaign. Metro Exodus recently released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC and had plenty of nudity, no beams of light in sight. A female character in a Japanese-developed game shows her behind once, and suddenly it gets censored, and only on PlayStation 4? Sony clearly has an agenda here, and for some reason, it took Devil May Cry 5 getting hit by this for more people to realize that this is a big issue.
