Stellar Blade accepted and Dead Space banned: EA Japan accuses the CERO body of double standards

The fact that Stellar Blade it was accepted by the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO)or the Japanese classification body, triggered the EA Japan protestwho accused the organization of double standards for having instead Dead Space banned from the territory.

Stellar Blade has obtained the CERO D rating in Japan, which makes it playable by users above the age of 17 and which instead was not granted to Dead Space, which in fact was not distributed in the territory, due to a lack of possible official classification.

As we have seen, Stellar Blade did not even suffer any censorship, as reported by the developers of the ShiftUp team, which exacerbated the resentment of Shaun Noguchi, general manager of EA Japan, who raised the issue on X.

A fundamental ambiguity in the classification process?

“What does this mean, CERO?” Noguchi wrote, “you said that our Dead Space could not go because there was presence of visible damage to the body and organsbut here there are both things, so I don't understand how it can fit into CERO D”.

The general manager of EA Japan refers to some specific sections that they cannot be present simultaneously as contents and characteristics of a game in order to fall within the CERO D classification.

The presence of both of these features prevented Dead Space from receiving a classification and the game was therefore not distributed in Japan, but according to what Noguchi reported, both sections are detected also in Stellar Blade, which instead obtained the CERO D classification and will be distributed.

“Just to avoid any misunderstanding, I have not nothing against Stellar Blade itself,” Noguchi added, “It's a fun game and I recommend everyone buy it,” he reported, but clearly there seems to be some mixed reviews at CERO.

“This is just a grievance aboutambiguity of the review process in Japan,” explained the EA executive, “and I can also give many other examples of this ambiguity and how it is prevalent in the review process for other games as well.”

In essence, according to Noguchi, the decisions taken by the CERO would not always be unambiguous, and this fundamental ambiguity would lead to a certain imbalance in the evaluations, which are reflected in what can be distributed on the market, suggesting that the body is not completely impartial. .