Guilty Gear and BlazBlue developer Arc System Works recently published its official guidelines for fan content of its intellectual property (such as fanart and doujinshi). While much of the rules were standard fare for a Japanese company and showed a rather tolerant attitude towards fan creations (even paid content, if not blatantly commercial), there had been some confusion regarding the developer’s stance on sexual fanart. The developers have since clarified that this was caused by an oversight.
The issue arose from differences in wording between the official English and Japanese-language guidelines. The English version merely prohibited fans from distributing or displaying explicit sexual content in all-ages areas at official ArcSys-hosted events, suggesting that the company is not against the creation of explicit fan content in itself, as long as it is appropriately age-gated/physically zoned. The guidelines also prohibited the creation of any content that would break the local laws of the creator’s country or disparage the company’s intellectual property, which is also a standard clause.
However, over in the Japanese version (prior to the new update), the guidelines prohibited fans from depicting “excessive sexual content,” which was explained through examples like “adult-oriented depictions such as lewd poses or poses intended to arouse sexual excitement.” While both versions used mostly the same language when it came to prohibiting excessive gore and violence, the clause on sexual content differed significantly.
Over on X, Japanese ArcSys fan expressed concern about these differences potentially leading to misunderstandings or friction between domestic and overseas fandoms. Additionally, people were unsure about whether the Japanese guidelines should be taken as an effective ban on sexual fan content, or if perhaps, the use of the word “excessive” in the clause meant there was still room for sexual content within a certain scope.
Many were hopeful that the guidelines would be updated with some extra clarification, and Arc System Works has since delivered. In an update on August 26, the company said it discovered that certain expressions in the Japanese version of the guidelines differed from what was intended, and issued revisions. The new Japanese version is now largely phrased like the original English text (which remains unchanged), which means there is no overarching prohibition of sexual fan content using ArcSys IPs.
