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Agony will be censored on all platforms, Madmind Studios risk to face closure if they release the removal patch on PC

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
Really sad to read:
Source

For slacker:
1527512349-tomek-discord-agony.png


ESRB win again. Can't believe were still here in 2018 this game if for ADULT, so let it be like the developers want it to be! If I think this game is not for me I just don't buy it and I move on.

[UPDATE]

1527519670-tomek-agony-censor-update.jpg
 
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I hope I can get my PC back up and running before it comes out.. oh, what the fuck, I know I won't be able to, I pre-ordered this too. Damn.

On topic, though: That absolutely BLOWS that they can't even release the patch. ESRB are dicks.
 

NewComer

Member
It doesn't sound like its that big of a deal if there is only 20 seconds and a few tidbits of content removed from the endings. Still, I'm looking forward to the game itself.
 

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
How will I live missing out on a few seconds of ultra gory content

It's not the quantity that is important, like ZiriusOne ZiriusOne said it. And even if its small things, they can be really significant for the vision of the devs. And the fact they can't even release the patch under penalty of being closed is completely aberrant. And dont forget that this game is for ADULT ONLY.
 

Kreydo

Member
Censorship is inadmissible. Plus the game is Rated A or R no?
People don't understand it's just another take on their free speech and will, look at the big picture please.
 
Ah, what a bummer.
I was looking forward to seeing how far these devs were going to push their ideas. I was also hoping the game might've served as an example of anti-censorship/anti-PC media. Guess not.
 
I sympathize with what they wrote about people not wanting to purchase if censored and how they had no choice.

Someone who isn't them officially a mock "fan" should release a noncensored patch hosted on another site
 

Ar¢tos

Member
If the game is adult rated, shows violence, gore and nudity (including frontal male nudity) , what could possibly happen in those 20 seconds that required censoring? All I can imagine is some sort of violence/gore (sexual or not) involving a fetus/baby/child.
 

TacosNSalsa

Member
That's sad..but an A/O or no rating at all is the almost assuredly the death of any game so I understand their position. Still going to buy it , it looks plenty scary and gory from what I've seen.
 
If the game is adult rated, shows violence, gore and nudity (including frontal male nudity) , what could possibly happen in those 20 seconds that required censoring? All I can imagine is some sort of violence/gore (sexual or not) involving a fetus/baby/child.
Only thing I can think of is that the scenes were very detailed. That just makes me even more curious, if true, though!
 

drotahorror

Member
Lame. Seems like a bunch of stupid shit to me. A patch for the PC game is what they said they'd provide. Hopefully the kickstarter update or w/e will shed some light.
 
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Redshirt

Banned
The censorship seems understandable in context. I wouldn't call it an ESRB "win."

The developer opted in to the ESRB rating in order to get it on the Xbox and PlayStation, apparently.
 

Ar¢tos

Member
Maybe they can release videos of those endings without the censorship. So we can at least see why they were censored.
 
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I hope I can get my PC back up and running before it comes out.. oh, what the fuck, I know I won't be able to, I pre-ordered this too. Damn.

On topic, though: That absolutely BLOWS that they can't even release the patch. ESRB are dicks.

While I'm very anti-censorship, this sounds like an issue of a ratings board working as intended. Steam doesn't want an AO rated game on their service, and there are limits to what you can show in an M rated title. The same is true for movies.

The censorship seems understandable in context. I wouldn't call it an ESRB "win."

The developer opted in to the ESRB rating in order to get it on the Xbox and PlayStation, apparently.

Agreed.
 

DESTROYA

Member
While I'm very anti-censorship, this sounds like an issue of a ratings board working as intended. Steam doesn't want an AO rated game on their service, and there are limits to what you can show in an M rated title. The same is true for movies.
Well said.
The game looks crazy as it is I can’t imagine what was that bad to censor it.
 

GrayChild

Gold Member
Censorship in Agony - final statement!

Dear Agony Fans,

After many consultations and hard work full of trials and errors, we have two pieces of news for you.

Firstly, we have managed to include a lot of things that we originally wanted to provide in the patch in the final game. It has been accepted by PEGI and other rating companies. The censorship now affects only several seconds from two endings (out of seven) and some scenes that may be unlocked only after the end of the game. We will be able to show them to you in a video that we are planning to release soon.

None of the scenes you have seen in the trailers and other promotional materials have been censored at all, and the game will feature those on all platforms:

  • Gore
  • Brutal Sex Scenes
  • Lesbian and Gay Sex Scenes
  • Genital Physics
  • Eye Gouging
  • Heart Plucking
  • Children Heads Exploding
  • Setting Fire to Martyrs and Demons
  • Intense Violence
  • Strong Language
  • Drugs

Secondly, due to legal issues, we are not going to be able to release the Adult Only patch. However, that content does not affect the game in any significant way because the deleted material that was supposed to be added in the latest version of the patch is from two endings (out of seven) and some scenes that may be unlocked only after the end of the game. We are going to publish a comparison video on May 30th, 2018 so you will not miss out anything.

Please bear in mind that leaving this content uncensored would result in the game being banned and us, Madmind Studio, being sued. That would simply lead to the studio being closed. Obviously, we don’t want this to happen and we hope that you understand it.

Agony is still the game we have planned all along and we are very proud of what we have achieved.

Enjoy pursuing the Red Goddess in Hell!
Madmind Studio
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
That's cool they're putting together a video and it's really not that much content being censored. But being sued is crazy. It's not like this is the first issue of Penthouse coming off the press.

I had the occasional talking to as a kid about violence, but I still owned and played Mature rated games. My dad would even go to the store and get the game for me. I didn't feel bad about it either.

Yeah it sucks that the ESRB and PEGI have to act like the big parents and the whole AO rating sucks for games. Hatred isnt exactly an awesome game to talk about.

I wouldn't get super excited and say this is great because this is exactly like Hatred because it's not.

I agree parents need to watch what they buy their kids, but this isn't for kids. I wouldn't buy Agony for a kid.

Remember when The Witcher was edited? The uncut developer's patch or the Polish version had the naked women pictures. Which was originally edited for North America. There was a patch and no one got sued. It's crazy to think we can't have a patch, but then again most games have to go under some sorta board before they're shipped off to the stores. I'm actually hoping this game does well. I preordered a copy for PC just because it was going to have this patch.
 

Valdega

Member
Pretty sure this excuse is nonsense. Red Barrels recently released an uncensor patch for Outlast 2 on PC. It wasn't even optional. I'm pretty sure they haven't been sued or shut down.
 

God Enel

Member
Fuck censorship for anything >18. We're old enough to consume the content we want. Though I have to say as I grew older I don't need all the gore/violence/whatever bullshit in the anymore But I fucking hate to be patronized by higher instances.

And I think it's kinda good publicity for the game. When's this releasing?
 

theclaw135

Banned
I haven't been following the game. Maybe the content in question is factually, irrefutably, illegal in the developer's country.
Not too many other explanations for getting sued I can think of.
 
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I haven't been following the game. Maybe the content in question is factually, irrefutably, illegal in the developer's country.
Not too many other explanations for getting sued I can think of.

My guess is that it's similar to Rockstar's Hot Coffee situation with GTA: SA, and if a developer makes content available that wasn't originally part of the ESRB rating, they can be sued.
 

Kenpachii

Member
Fuck censorship for anything >18. We're old enough to consume the content we want. Though I have to say as I grew older I don't need all the gore/violence/whatever bullshit in the anymore But I fucking hate to be patronized by higher instances.

And I think it's kinda good publicity for the game. When's this releasing?

Dunno censorship can be a good thing. What if i tomorrow make a hitler nazi youth simulator that consists out of 30 hours of endless hitler speech brainwash material. I bet that gets some good use and brainwashes some children / adults from specific groups.

Don't think that shit needs to hit the shelves.

Then you got the "loli" schoolgirl sex simulators, or how to shoot up a school most effective training guide.

This game could very well had some stuff that would create massive backslash for steam and even would be completely illegal stuff in a lot of countrys which could get them perm banned as service straight away and lose market share.

I don't think these devs realize how the world works.

If you want to however release the ultimate gore version of there game i don't understand why they don't just build a own website and just release it on there for a stand alone version that you can download from gog or something in form of a patch.
 
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damn that sucks, hopefully they can turn away the backlash all censorhip gets and still have the same results if it did or didnt have it.

(releasing the cut/patched content as images or video would be cool to see post release on their website)
 
Dunno censorship can be a good thing. What if i tomorrow make a hitler nazi youth simulator that consists out of 30 hours of endless hitler speech brainwash material. I bet that gets some good use and brainwashes some children / adults from specific groups.

Don't think that shit needs to hit the shelves.

Then you got the "loli" schoolgirl sex simulators, or how to shoot up a school most effective training guide.

This game could very well had some stuff that would create massive backslash for steam and even would be completely illegal stuff in a lot of countrys which could get them perm banned as service straight away and lose market share.

I don't think these devs realize how the world works.

If you want to however release the ultimate gore version of there game i don't understand why they don't just build a own website and just release it on there for a stand alone version that you can download from gog or something in form of a patch.
everything should be able to be made even the "Nazi Youth Sim" that doesnt mean the product wont be criticized or be held behind more strict rules like instead of selling to children it sold to adults only even if like everything
( even if its possible to pass that. just like buying cigs)

If it had some illegal stuff like naked kids (JUST AS AN EXAMPLE) then yeah shit that needs to be removed to avoid legal and public backlash that would ruin a studio and the people working on it.

idk I personally am on that side of things, make what you want to make just dont expect everyone to love it or to hate it.
 

EDMIX

Member
The game is rated for mature adults, let it exist that way. I don't care for this type of censorship as we have a rating board that seems to think rated M for games means like PG for kids..
 

Tomeru

Member
Pretty sure this excuse is nonsense. Red Barrels recently released an uncensor patch for Outlast 2 on PC. It wasn't even optional. I'm pretty sure they haven't been sued or shut down.

When you see the video you will be ashamed of your words and deeds.
 

Gun Animal

Member
It's fine that they're releasing the omitted content as video, and anonymously uploading it as a mod would have been fine too, but publically airing grievences with the ESRB and calling their classification "censorship" is really unprofessional and was certain to backfire.The ESRB exists to keep the U.S. government out of videogames, that's infinitely more important than whatever titty demon buttfucking cinematic they had to obscure.
 
The ESRB exists to keep the U.S. government out of videogames, that's infinitely more important than whatever titty demon buttfucking cinematic they had to obscure.
Doesn't mean they're perfect. There's obviously room for improvement. Devs should be able to make and release whatever game they want, just like how movies and other types of media have that freedom.

Looking at that list, this game's obviously not for me. I think (and perhaps even hope) most people wouldn't be into this kind of content. However, it should be able to exist, in its uncensored form, so people can enjoy it if they so choose.
 

Ar¢tos

Member
That's cool they're putting together a video and it's really not that much content being censored. But being sued is crazy. It's not like this is the first issue of Penthouse coming off the press.

I had the occasional talking to as a kid about violence, but I still owned and played Mature rated games. My dad would even go to the store and get the game for me. I didn't feel bad about it either.

Yeah it sucks that the ESRB and PEGI have to act like the big parents and the whole AO rating sucks for games. Hatred isnt exactly an awesome game to talk about.

I wouldn't get super excited and say this is great because this is exactly like Hatred because it's not.

I agree parents need to watch what they buy their kids, but this isn't for kids. I wouldn't buy Agony for a kid.

Remember when The Witcher was edited? The uncut developer's patch or the Polish version had the naked women pictures. Which was originally edited for North America. There was a patch and no one got sued. It's crazy to think we can't have a patch, but then again most games have to go under some sorta board before they're shipped off to the stores. I'm actually hoping this game does well. I preordered a copy for PC just because it was going to have this patch.

They probably mean being sued in America because the patch would change the rating from M to AO. In Europe PEGI ratings are reference only, they have no legal power attached to them, so they could release the patch with a simple warning (for pc, consoles would never accept it because they don't have any AO content).
 

wolgoen

Member
What a sad, pathetic world we live in. Full of sad, pathetic people.

I’m surprised the devs have been able to keep the content they have approved because most of it is pwobably two gwoosome for wour dwelicate wittle minds.
 
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