The recently released Switch version of Dispatch shipped with its censorship mode locked on. Players can’t disable it.
The censorship covers nudity with large black boxes. It also censors a middle finger gesture, bleeps profanity, and obscures certain background text containing swear words. These are all elements that appear uncensored or as optional toggles on other platforms.
Following attention on the differences between versions, Nintendo provided a statement to IGN. The company says it requires all games on its platforms to receive ratings from independent organizations and meet established content and platform guidelines. Nintendo says it informs partners when titles don’t meet those guidelines.
The statement emphasizes that Nintendo does not make changes to partner content itself. The company also says it does not discuss specific content or the criteria used in these determinations.
The censorship isn’t unique to Switch. The game has a built-in censor mode across all versions. The difference is that on Switch, players can’t turn it off.
On PlayStation 5, the situation splits by region. The Japanese PS5 version reportedly has censorship locked on similar to Switch. The global PS5 release allows players to toggle censorship off. PC versions also include the toggle option.
This has led to debate over who actually decided on the permanent Switch censorship. Some argue the developer chose to ship one global Switch build that satisfies the strictest regional requirements rather than maintaining separate versions. Others point out that Nintendo can still effectively force changes by rejecting submissions that don’t meet guidelines.
The Japanese eShop lists the game as CERO D (ages 17+). Despite the censorship, Western versions still carry mature ratings including ESRB M and PEGI 18.
Multiple games with nudity exist on Switch without permanent censorship. Players have pointed to Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3, and Red Dead Redemption as examples. Though Cyberpunk 2077 does have a censored version specifically for the Japanese console market while other regions get the uncensored build.
The lowest common denominator
Maintaining separate content builds costs money. Developers need to test multiple versions, ensure patches work across variants, and resubmit to compliance for each region. Some studios choose to ship the most restrictive version everywhere on a specific platform to avoid these costs.
Whether that’s what happened here remains unclear. Nintendo’s statement confirms it has content requirements but doesn’t specify what triggered the issue with Dispatch or whether an uncensored build was ever submitted and rejected.
