Dispatch devs say uncensored physical Switch release not possible, “can’t comment” on why separate regional releases didn’t happen

As you know doubt have heard, Dispatch arrived on Switch and Switch 2 last week in a censored state. While players on PS5 and PC have the ability to turn on/off Visual Censorship, Nintendo fans have had that option taken away. That means those playing on Switch and Switch 2 will see black boxes over nudity and will encounter certain scenes where moaning has been muted, and there’s no way to turn the censorship off. As Dispatch is a game with a considerable amount of adult content, the censorship measures pop up quite often.

Very late last week we shared a story featuring a lengthy comment from AdHoc Studio, the team behind Dispatch, explaining how the censorship came to be. You can read that piece in full here. While that story was pretty upsetting, it at least included one hopeful note for the future.

AdHoc has said that they’re working with Nintendo in order to address the censorship issue on Switch and Switch 2. While it doesn’t seem like a fully uncensored version will be possible, AdHoc does mention that they’re looking to release an update that’ll “address at least some of the censored content.” That’s definitely a step in the right direction, but is there any hope for a fully uncensored version? We’ve seen physical Switch releases in the past that ended up being completely uncensored as compared to the version available on the eShop, so might that be viable for Dispatch? We have an answer straight from the team themselves.

Our PR point of contact reached out to AdHoc for comment on the potential for an uncensored physical Switch/Switch 2 release, and unfortunately the answer isn’t one we hoped for. Our point of contact told us there is “no possibility for a physical version to be released without the adjusted content.” They also went on to say that the discussion isn’t “currently relevant as there are no announcements regarding a physical release at this time.” That is very much true, but you might remember that in our interview with Natalie Herman, Lead Producer on Dispatch, we asked about the potential for a physical release. Herman responded by saying, “Let’s just say we’ve dreamed of Dispatch in a shiny red case. We have a lot of physical media fans on our team.”

We also managed to get a statement concerning the idea that the censorship kerfuffle stemmed from there being a singular digital SKU rated for Dispatch. As we said last week, there’s been speculation running as to whether this whole situation is related to the game’s CERO D rating in Japan. Some fans believed that if just one universal Switch/Switch 2 version of Dispatch was released worldwide, it would have to cater to Japanese censorship rules overall. In other words, this would mean all regions would have the “Visual Censorship” toggle removed, thus resulting in the censored version we have in NA/EU. Furthermore, the reason why a title like Cyberpunk 2077 wasn’t censored for Switch 2 in NA/EU was due to CD Project Red releasing a separate version of the game in Japan that was rated CERO Z. This version still had censorship, but again, it was only made available to Japanese audiences or those purchasing from the Japanese eShop. (h/t Razorbeamz)

While the comments from AdHoc late last week seemed to make it clear as to how the censorship came about, we still wanted to get a statement on the singular worldwide release discussion. Unfortunately, we were told that “AdHoc is legally unable to provide further comment on why separate SKUs were not possible for different regions.” In other words, don’t expect to hear more on that, well…ever!