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The story
The developer of the horror game “Halloween: The Game,” originally slated for a September 9 release, has announced that the PS5 version will not be released in Japan after all. The reason given is that the title could not obtain a Japanese CERO rating — bringing it into compliance, the developer said, would have seriously damaged both the atmosphere of the original film and the gameplay itself. The Xbox and PC versions will still launch as planned, and anyone who pre-ordered the PS5 version will be refunded. On 5ch’s hardware/industry (Geha) board, discussion centered on why only the PS5 version was affected, with many commenters pointing to a difference in platform review policy: PlayStation software is required to obtain a CERO rating, while Xbox and Steam only need to meet the international IARC rating standard.
Regarding “Halloween: The Game,” originally scheduled for release on Wednesday, September 9: because we were unable to obtain a domestic Japanese rating from CERO, we have decided to cancel the release of the PS5 version in Japan.
We determined that restricting the game’s content in order to meet the rating requirements would significantly damage the atmosphere of the original film, and would also prevent us from delivering the gameplay experience players expect.
Those who have already pre-ordered the PS5 version will be refunded by the platform holder; please contact them directly for further details.
Source: x.com / original post here
What people said
Well, even if it's become a hollow formality, it's still necessary — otherwise the industry turns lawless.
Otherwise it'll get slapped with actual legal regulation real quick.
That's totally different from this case — that was just an 'ongi block' (obscure 5ch slang, apparently some kind of licensing/region block).
Going through CERO is a hassle so they're just not bothering — can't be helped.
And the punchline is Xbox and PC go through a different ratings body, so they get to release it.
For Japanese Xbox, a download-only title can release even as 18+ as long as it gets an IARC rating.
Japanese PlayStation basically works the same way — download-only software can release with just an IARC rating.
But for 18+ titles specifically, PlayStation requires a CERO rating on top of IARC.
So a download-only Xbox title can release in Japan even without CERO,
but a PS version can't release in Japan unless it passes CERO.
Both Xbox and PS only skip CERO because there's no physical release — that's literally all this is.
Sony's policy is to require CERO for PS regardless of whether there's a physical release or not.
For Xbox, if there's no physical release, meeting the international IARC standard alone is enough.
So if it doesn't pass CERO, it simply can't be released on Japanese PS.
CERO is mandatory for PS. Microsoft and Steam accept other ratings too — come on, actually read the thread.
If it somehow does release exactly as shown in that trailer, third-party publishers jumping ship is a lock.
That trailer is insanely gory, there's no way it gets through uncensored.
If there were no restrictions I'd honestly be put off.
It's mostly free-to-play games anyway.
Wait, seriously? I figured a game like that would obviously come out on it… nope, it really doesn't, lol.
It's no substitute for a PS5 🙄
No satisfying impact, and you can't even tell if you landed a hit or a kill.
Gears of War 2 on the Xbox 360 was like that.
Fine, I'll let the no-exploding-heads thing slide,
but there wasn't even a headshot sound effect, so you couldn't tell if you'd actually killed the guy or not.
If you're selling in Japan, going through CERO is the proper way to do it.
That said, CERO itself is just a private industry body's
self-regulation with no legal force behind it.
The whole point of that self-regulation was to keep the government from
stepping in with actual laws — but if the manufacturers that matter most
just ignore it, the whole effort is meaningless.
The rating system exists in the first place so games can actually be stocked on shelves at local game shops, you know.
Also, what's with all those random line breaks? You typing this on a flip phone (garakei/feature phone) or something?
Xbox only dodges this because it sells so poorly in Japan that it's already pulled out of physical releases entirely.
This game was never planned to get a physical release in the first place.
And when PS drops physical releases in 2028, is it actually switching to IARC-only? There's been no announcement of that either.
PlayStation is pulling out of physical releases too, so this isn't even an issue, right?
Texas Chainsaw Massacre especially had survivors so overpowered the killer side could barely do anything — on top of which it was a genuinely nasty game where you'd repeatedly stab the wheelchair-bound old man who serves as the killer team's home base.
That's partly because the killer side wasn't really designed to function as a team to begin with.
Unless you level up skills enough, the Cook's hearing-based skill doesn't even get shared with teammates.
I guess it's inevitable the design ends up pandering to whichever side has more players.
But it's frustrating they don't even seem to try giving the minority side a way to feel a sense of accomplishment.
The whole point of this thread is
'PlayStation might not be able to play overseas games anymore,'
right? Why'd you suddenly derail it into 'I just want to see mutilated corpses, guts, and nudity'?
Going forward, any game with gore or fan-service content could end up in the exact same situation.
This isn't something you can brush off as just 'ooh, guts and stuff.'
Personally I don't care much either way about the cutscenes, but from a game-system standpoint — especially in PvP — that stuff is a visual cue for debuffs/incapacitation, so it really needs to stay consistent across versions.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Distribution of game software within Japan has, in practice, made age-rating review by the Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) all but mandatory. It is a self-regulatory framework run by an industry body with no legal enforcement power, but its existence is precisely what has, historically, kept the government from stepping in with actual legislation. The point of contention in the thread was “why is only the PS5 version affected” — even for download-only titles with no physical release, PlayStation software is said to require a CERO rating, whereas Xbox and Steam only need to satisfy the international IARC rating standard, a difference in review policy between platforms that was cited as the technical explanation. While some dismissed CERO as a “hollowed-out, useless formality,” others defended its value, arguing that if industry self-regulation broke down, it could lead to actual government regulation. Commenters also pointed out that similar content-restriction risks could affect other overseas titles due for release in the future, suggesting this may not be an isolated case.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch Hardware/Industry (Geha) board thread “[Sad News] “Halloween: The Game” PS5 Version Cancelled in Japan — Xbox/PC Versions to Release as Planned.”
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