Ubisoft recently responded swiftly to the discovery of an unexpected censorship issue in Far Cry 4. This came to light when observant players on Reddit noted that character models were altered ten years after the game’s release, sparking a flurry of speculation. Many were quick to point the finger at Tencent, a Chinese company that recently invested in Ubisoft, as the possible cause of this move. However, the French gaming company wasted no time fixing the oversight.
Patricia Brochu, a community developer from Ubisoft, addressed the community on Reddit to clarify the situation. She confirmed that the censorship was unintentional for players outside Japan. Originally, Japanese regulatory requirements had led to the censorship of nudity in the game, but this was never intended for the Western release.
Brochu elaborated on the mix-up: “After reviewing the situation, we confirmed that during a recent update, data meant exclusively for the Japanese version mistakenly reached the global version on Steam. This error inadvertently caused changes, including censored models and assets. The team has resolved the issue by re-uploading the correct data to the worldwide depot on Steam. If players notice anything amiss, they should restart Steam and check for updates.”
She further reassured fans by stating, “There are no intentions to impose any censorship on Far Cry in the future. It was merely an error linked to a particular regional build, and it has now been rectified. Thank you to everyone who reported the issue and assisted in our investigation. We appreciate your support and patience!”
This prompt resolution from Ubisoft should ease concerns about any deliberate censorship. Many feared this was another instance of Chinese influence, reminiscent of similar shifts seen in anime and other media. However, it appears to be nothing more than a simple mistake, now effectively addressed.
