During an emergency live broadcast held on July 29, the developers of famously provocative Korean gacha TRPG Brown Dust 2 announced that the game’s domestic version would become subject to censorship and certain content restrictions starting July 30. According to game director Jun-hee Lee, two in-game costumes, namely Palette’s Shattered Dream and Olivier’s Retired Legend, will be modified to comply with South Korea’s censorship laws and review guidelines. In addition, the game will have a separate build domestically moving forward.
Certain cutscenes and images will be modified for both of the offending costumes, with additional censorship applied to Olivier’s secret event (the character is notably depicted pulling her weapon out of her butt). According to Lee, depictions of genitalia, bodily fluids related to genitalia, and content that suggests provocative acts were determined to be in violation South Korea’s censorship laws (the game is already rated ages 19 and above in the country).
To compensate for the changes, all players will receive 4,000 free Diamonds (the game’s premium currency), with owners of the affected costumes receiving an extra 2,000 Diamonds per costume. Players who want a refund will receive 13,400 Diamonds per costume. If both costumes are owned and are above +5 enhancement, requesting a full refund will gives160,800 Diamonds, plus the materials used to upgrade the costumes.
This marks the second time the Brown Dust 2 developers have had to adapt the game for a specific country, with the first being Germany. Moving forward, all future content for the Korean build will be made in accordance with the country’s censorship laws (other regions will retain the original costumes and uncensored content).
As a South Korea-developed title, Lee regrets that Brown Dust 2 had to be censored in its country of origin. Though the devs considered alternatives, such as alternate service providers, the fact that they had to comply with South Korean laws means doing otherwise would make the game unavailable in the country (as was the case in Vietnam). When faced with that reality, Lee and his team decided to create a separate version rather than completely lose its Korean player base.
Brown Dust 2 is available on Android, iOS, and PC (via its official webpage).
