Nintendo Apologizes For Advertising Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore Without Censorship, Offers Refunds To Japanese Customers

Earlier this week, we learnt that even the Japanese release of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore on Switch would feature the same censorship that was in the western release of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. With many fans and customers upset at this news, it looks like the backlash has gotten bad enough for Nintendo to go public.

Nintendo has released a formal statement apologizing for all the commotion surrounding the game’s contents. In particular, Nintendo apologized to fans for mistakenly using screenshots of the uncensored Japanese Wii U version – instead of clearly stating that it would be based on the censored Western Wii U release. As many Japanese customers pre-ordered the game from Nintendo eShop or My Nintendo Store without knowing this beforehand, Nintendo announced that it would offer a means of cancelling their orders and getting a refund at a later date.

Here’s the full statement below, with translations by NintendoSoup:

Apology for Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore (Nintendo Switch)

We would like to apologize to customers for not conveying enough information about Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore, a piece of Nintendo Switch software launching on January 17, 2020.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore features the western version of Wii U software Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE (released in 2016) along with other new content. We have decided to develop only one version of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore for the world (the game can be played in Japanese).

That said, we have caused misunderstanding and confusion among customers as we did not convey sufficient information that Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore uses the western version of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE as its base. We used screenshots from the Japanese version of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE on the official website for Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore by mistake, causing confusion.

To solve these issues, we replaced the problematic screenshots on October 10, 2019, and on October 17, we included a notice on the game’s official website that Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore uses the western version of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE as its base. We are aware that our actions were not sufficient in conveying our message to customers from the very start.

Hence, in light of this matter, we have decided that customers who have already pre-ordered Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore via the Nintendo eShop or My Nintendo Store and wish to cancel their order will be able to do so in the future. This page (https://www.nintendo.co.jp/support/information/2019/1018.html) will be updated on a later date with information on the cancellation procedure.

Presently, it’s unclear if customers ordering the game from other retailers will be compensated in a similar manner. Nevertheless, things seem to be off to a rocky start for the game’s re-release on Switch.

We’ll report back if we hear further news about the game in the future. Stay tuned.