{"id":48130,"date":"2025-05-20T10:42:49","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T01:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=48130"},"modified":"2025-05-20T10:42:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T01:42:51","slug":"nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Nintendo Switch store blocks indie dev\u2019s release over \u201cin-game advertising\u201d for including references to previous titles in series\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese indie developer Hikotel recently <a href=\"https:\/\/hikotel0611.wixsite.com\/kokoroclover\/%E8%A4%87%E8%A3%BD-20250410-%E3%82%A4%E3%83%99%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%83%AC%E3%83%9D%E3%81%A8%E3%81%8B-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">shared an update<\/a> about the delayed Switch release of their new title <strong>Kokoro Clover Sun: Prehistoric Invaders<\/strong>. After a very prolonged review process, the developer has been notified of an issue blocking the game\u2019s release on the Nintendo Switch store \u2013 it has been flagged as containing in-game advertising, which is against the platform\u2019s rules. The unfortunate part is, Hikotel\u2019s game is kind of being misunderstood here.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"957\" height=\"538\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 957px) 100vw, 957px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-001.jpg\" alt=\"Kokoro Clover Sun: Prehistoric Invaders\" class=\"wp-image-48133\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-001.jpg 957w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-001-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Kokoro Clover Sun: Prehistoric Invaders is a new entry to the existing Kokoro Clover series of story-driven 2D platformers. Inspired by 2000s Japanese kids&#8217; TV anime and tokusatsu, these games feel like \u201cplayable anime,\u201d with the latest title including an animated opening, ending and commercial breaks. Some of Hikotel\u2019s parodic commercials in the game make nods to Kokoro Clover Season 1, the previous title in the series, but it seems the Nintendo Switch store has interpreted this as actual advertising.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This did not seem to be a problem over on Steam (which also has strict rules against making players watch ads to continue playing), as Kokoro Clover Sun: Prehistoric Invaders launched without issues on the platform back on March 27. In their latest dev blog entry, Hikotel comments that the Switch store\u2019s rules are stricter. \u201cApparently, even if it belongs to the same series, there are no rights issues, or it\u2019s simply meant to <em>resemble<\/em> a commercial, it\u2019s still not allowed. They&#8217;re very strict.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1021\" height=\"571\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1021px) 100vw, 1021px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-002.jpg\" alt=\"Kokoro Clover Sun: Prehistoric Invaders\" class=\"wp-image-48134\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-002.jpg 1021w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-002-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-002-768x430.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, Hikotel will have to alter Kokoro Clover Sun: Prehistoric Invaders for the Switch store, swapping out the \u201ccommercials\u201d and other references to past titles in the series. The game will need to go through re-review, which has caused the developer to lose hope for a May release.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kokoro Clover Sun: Prehistoric Invaders is out now on <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3175530\/Kokoro_Clover_SUN__Prehistoric_Invaders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a>. The Nintendo Switch version is estimated to launch sometime mid-to-late June.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The developer of the 2000s anime inspired platformer series Kokoro Clover has been warned for &#8220;advertisting&#8221; their own games through parodic commercials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":48132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-48130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie-games","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nintendo Switch store blocks indie dev\u2019s release over \u201cin-game advertising\u201d for including references to previous titles in series\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The developer of the 2000s anime inspired platformer series Kokoro Clover has been warned for &quot;advertisting&quot; their own games through parodic commercials.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nintendo Switch store blocks indie dev\u2019s release over \u201cin-game advertising\u201d for including references to previous titles in series\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The developer of the 2000s anime inspired platformer series Kokoro Clover has been warned for &quot;advertisting&quot; their own games through parodic commercials.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-20T01:42:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-20T01:42:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"957\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nintendo Switch store blocks indie dev\u2019s release over \u201cin-game advertising\u201d for including references to previous titles in series\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"The developer of the 2000s anime inspired platformer series Kokoro Clover has been warned for \"advertisting\" their own games through parodic commercials.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nintendo Switch store blocks indie dev\u2019s release over \u201cin-game advertising\u201d for including references to previous titles in series\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"The developer of the 2000s anime inspired platformer series Kokoro Clover has been warned for \"advertisting\" their own games through parodic commercials.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-05-20T01:42:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-20T01:42:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":957,"height":536,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Nintendo Switch store blocks indie dev\u2019s release over \u201cin-game advertising\u201d for including references to previous titles in series\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-05-20T01:42:49+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-20T01:42:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/"},"wordCount":337,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["Indie Games","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/","name":"Nintendo Switch store blocks indie dev\u2019s release over \u201cin-game advertising\u201d for including references to previous titles in series\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-header.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-20T01:42:49+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-20T01:42:51+00:00","description":"The developer of the 2000s anime inspired platformer series Kokoro Clover has been warned for \"advertisting\" their own games through parodic commercials.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250520-48130-header.jpg","width":957,"height":536,"caption":"Kokoro Clover Sun: Prehistoric Invaders"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-store-blocks-indie-devs-release-over-in-game-advertising-for-including-references-to-previous-titles-in-series\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nintendo Switch store blocks indie dev\u2019s release over \u201cin-game advertising\u201d for including references to previous titles in series\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48130"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48136,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48130\/revisions\/48136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}