In the latest instance of the company unfairly turning their censorious attentions on an East Asian developer, Sony has reportedly ordered Fate/Stay Night devs Type-Moon to censor a physical art book set to be included in the limited edition of their upcoming visual novel. TSUKIHIME – A piece of blue glass moon from the PlayStation release of the package.
The first entry in Type-Moon’s ongoing effort to remake the eponymous series of early-2000s eroge visual novels, TSUKIHIME – A Piece of Blue Glass Moon follows the story of Shiki Tohno, a high school student who possess the ability to see and manipulate the ‘death lines’ of both people and objects, in turn bestowing him with the power to kill or destroy anyone or anything he sees fit.
Though he normally considers his gifts to be a burden due to the immense pain they cause him when used, after returning to his hometown following the death of his father and finding it caught in the crossfire between warring vampire factions, Shiki soon turns to embracing his ‘special eyes’ in order to fight back against the forces of the undead.
Notably, though the original TSUKIHIME visual novel was an adult title filled with sexually explicit writing and imagery, Type-Moon have chosen – as they did with their reboot of the aforementioned Fate/Stay Night series – to abandon these elements in the remake in order to bring the story to a wider range of audiences.
First released in Japan in 2021, Type-Moon would eventually announce plans to bring TSUKIHIME -A piece of blue glass moon to international Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 players on June 27th, 2024.
As part of these plans, in addition to being made available on digital storefronts, the developer revealed that the visual novel would also be receiving a limited edition physical release, its contents consisting of the game cart/disc, a collector’s box to hold it, and the TSUKIHIME Material Ⅰ -material of blue glass moon- art book.
Unfortunately, international Switch players will receive the art book in its original, unaltered state, the same can not be said for those who consider the PlayStation to be their console of choice.
Taking to the game’s official English-language Twitter account on May 1st, Type-Moon sadly confirmed to players, “Due to differing platform publishing policies, the art book included in the Physical Limited Edition for PlayStation 4 will be printed with graphic modifications to two pages while the artbook included in the Physical Limited Edition for Nintendo Switch will be printed without the modifications.”
“Despite these adjustments to the PlayStation 4 artbook, the game will remain unaltered for both PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch,” they then clarified regarding the title’s actual contents. “We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your support of TSUKIHIME – A piece of blue glass moon –“
As of writing, it is currently unknown which particular illustrations will be censored upon the art book’s official release.
Meanwhile, as noted above, TSUKIHIME -A piece of blue glass moon is currently set to start the hunt on June 27th, 2024.