Arcaea temporarily removed from the Switch eShop in Europe and Japan while its rating is adjusted

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-07-26 18:37 JST)

Game developer lowiro revealed on July 26 (JST) that the Nintendo Switch version of their rhythm game Arcaea is being temporarily delisted from the Nintendo eShop in Europe and Japan due to the game’s rating being adjusted.

Arcaea is a popular rhythm game that initially released on smartphones and came to the Nintendo Switch in May of 2021. It features over 150 songs by more than 90 artists and has modes for both touch controls and Joy-Con controls. Floor notes travel from the back of the screen toward the player down a lane like many rhythm games, as arc notes flow down the screen above the lane giving the charts a sense of depth. The game combines this with beautiful illustrations and a story to make for an appealing overall package.

The game was available on the Nintendo eShop, but as of now, it has been delisted. According to developer lowiro, the reason is that the game’s rating is being adjusted and was met with an unexpected delay. They also stated that Arcaea was only delisted from the eShop in Europe and Japan.

From lowiro’s explanation, it’s likely that there was a discrepancy between the content in the game and its rating, meaning some sort of adjustment is being made. Before the game was delisted, it was rated as IARC:3+ in Japan and PEGI:3 in Europe. On the other hand, Arcaea has an ESRB:T (13+) rating in North America which is a fairly substantial gap.

lowiro didn’t specifically lay out what in the game caused the issue, but fans are speculating that it has something to do with a certain part of the story. We won’t go into story details here, but the ESRB rating does include warnings for blood and violence which don’t tend to jive well with all ages ratings.

If we check the official website for the Japanese version, we can see a rating of IARC:12+ displayed. lowiro seems to have received a new rating more in line with the game’s content and are planning to put the game back on the eShop. Since the rating is more or less the same as the rating in North America, the game’s content likely wasn’t modified during this process. lowiro says this delisting is only temporary and that they will notify players once it’s available again.