Idea Factory International released a statement saying that the quartet of previously announced titles will not be released for the Switch in the West after all.
Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2 Sisters Generation, i Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3 V Generation they were in line for release back in May, but were delayed. Death End Re;Quest: Code Z was supposed to launch on the North American and European eShops in 2025, but has now been cancelled.
According to the publisher, the cancellation is “due to the content of the Re;Birth and Death end re;Quest: Code Z series that do not comply with Nintendo's guidelines.”
Here is the full statement:
Idea Factory International was originally scheduled to release the following Neptunia Nintendo eShop titles on May 21st: Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2 Sisters Generationand Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth3 V Generation. It was also reported that Death end re; Quest: Code Z was set to launch physically and digitally for Nintendo Switch™ in 2025.
3 Neptunia titles and Death end re; Quest: Code Z for North America and Europe will no longer run on Nintendo Switch/Nintendo eShop due to content Rebirth series i Death end re; Quest: Code Z does not comply with Nintendo guidelines.
Please note that Death end re; Quest: Code Z it will still launch physically and digitally for PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®5 in 2025.
If you're not familiar with these Compile Heart games, Hyperdimension Neptunia is an RPG adventure series that essentially parodies the “console wars” with scantily clad characters taking on the roles of various consoles. The first game in the series, set in the faraway land of 'Gamindustri', launched on the PS3 back in 2010 with girls based on the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360. One might speculate that thinly veiled references to competing hardware could rub Nintendo the wrong way, though all on Switch in Japan and we have various other Neptunia games in the west.
Death end re; Quest: Code Z is a spin-off series already available in the West (Death end re; Quest 1 and 2) and this entry has been launched in Japan in September. It carries the 18+ 'Cero Z' age tag compared to the 17+ 'Cero D' of the previous two games, but it's unclear why exactly the planned release of the Western was dropped on the Switch.
We've reached out to the publisher to find out which Nintendo guidelines this game violates and will update this article if we hear back.
