Somehow, Censorship has Made Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes Even Shorter in Japan

This prologue to The Phantom Pain is a bit too extreme for Japanese audiences.

Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes is a bite-sized experience that might even be mistaken for a demo, but the version of the game that’s been given to Japan is even shorter than what the rest of the world has seen. Thanks to a few violent, jarring scenes within the title, the Computer Entertainment Ratings Organization – better known as "CERO" in Japan – has censored the project. Creator Hideo Kojima revealed this news during an interview with Weekly Famitsu (via Kotaku).

"That part got flagged by CERO so the production was changed that way, but in the North American version [of Ground Zeroes] you can see everything," Kojima said about the censorship.

He didn’t pinpoint the exact moments that were removed, so you’ll just have to play through this prologue to discover the offensive content for yourself.

Kojima recently argued that games need to be bold in order to be compared to competing media, so this is likely a move that he doesn’t appreciate.