Content warning: this article contains discussion of sexual assault

Sony has put a stop to the Western release of a new Japanese game planned to launch on both PlayStation 4 and Vita, due to graphic scenes depicting sexual acts being performed on its cast of young schoolgirls.

There have been plenty of questionable or just plain inexcusable games released on all sorts of gaming platforms over the years (who could forget the 1982 Atari 2600 travesty Custer’s Revenge, which depicts the rape of a Native American woman by Civil War commander General Custer?), but a new Japanese title called Omega Labyrinth Z is the latest to be blocked outright in Western market.

As Eurogamer reports, the anime dungeon crawler had already been blocked from a physical release in the U.K. after the Video Standards Council refused to allow its release in March, but now Sony Europe has stepped in to ban the game from its platforms outright – despite the game being granted a PEGI 18 rating in Europe, and also receiving a Japanese release on both systems.

The game’s official announcement trailer

The VSC’s appraisal of the game is damning, describing gameplay that features committing various sexual acts, including – ugh – something known as a “shame break”:

“The player touches certain points on a female character’s body to arouse them. A successful action will activate a ‘shame break’ where parts of their clothing come off revealing more of their bodies.

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“The player places honey on the girls’ bodies. A fantastical dog-like creature then proceeds to lick the honey off their bodies which causes them to become aroused.

“Like the previous mini-game, when they reach a certain level of arousal parts of their clothing fall off or vanish. As the dog licks at the honey, the girls respond with sexualised language.”

While we’d never argue that most games should be banned for sexual content, the VSC points directly to the characters’ ages as being incredibly problematic.

“The game is explicit in its setting within a ‘school’ environment and the majority of the characters are young girls – one child is referred to as being a ‘first year’ student and is seen holding a teddy bear.

“The game clearly promotes the sexualisation of children via the sexual interaction between the game player and the female characters. The style of the game is such that it will attract an audience below the age of 18.”

Despite our recent R18+ rating for games, Australia still has a long way to go in terms of respecting video games as an adult medium, but our ratings board also got this one right when it refused classification back in February.

Developer PQube spoke to fans via Twitter, leaning on the game’s similarity to anime “source material” as the reasoning for the game’s graphic depictions of sexual acts on minors.

“It is with sadness that we announce that the game is cancelled on both platforms [PS4 and Vita] and all Western regions permanently. We will not comment further on this matter. Thank you for your support.”

“PQube strives to release Japanese content for its fans as close to the source material as possible. In the case of Omega Labyrinth Z, while PQube has worked with all relevant age rating bodies in their respective territories, PQube must respectfully comply with the wishes of the platform holder and have therefore withdrawn any future plans for Omega Labyrinth’s European and North American release on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.”

Fans are expressing their outrage on social media, and the game has a small following of hardcore supporters, being the sequel to the very mildly-successful Omega Labyrinth. Of course, that game centred around the main character finding the ‘Holy Grail of Beauty’ in order to enlarge her “small breasts”, and also involved the groping of its schoolgirl characters to free them from various traps.

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