[UPDATE 02/20/22] While it hasn’t been relisted on Switch yet — a feat that publisher qureate still hopes they can pull off — Duel Princess is available for the first time on PC now through a number of DRM-free storefronts, Itch.io the most widely known among them. Source: NintendoLife. Our original news from January 29th continues below.
Qureate’s Duel Princess just launched on the Nintendo Switch eShop on January 13th but was delisted in Japan less than two weeks later on the 26th. It remained available for a few days longer across Europe and North America but was pulled from sale worldwide by January 28th. Qureate tweeted about the situation alongside its removal in Japan citing “various reasons” for its delisting but that they would update when it had returned to sale. Current owners are able to re-download the game but if it’s lewd content is patched out the original version of the game would become extinct.
I had no idea what the game involved as I started the trailer embedded in Automaton’s post this morning. Egregious but artistic anime ladies banter before diving into 2D tower defense gameplay with chibi-style art. Fair enough until about the 55 second mark. After defeating one of the game’s princesses you’re able to “punish” their undressed bodies in various ways to reveal and claim a magical crest. Clearly the “various reasons” for the delisting tilt heavily towards this content which appears out of sorts compared to the rest of the game.
Apparently this is qureate’s wheelhouse though, and they’ve even suggested that a version of Duel Princess was recently rejected for release on Steam. Nevertheless, their roster of similarly themed titles remains available on both Steam and Nintendo Switch. They may have just overstepped the limits of the ratings boards with Duel Princess… and found the limits of Nintendo’s review process for the eShop. We will update if and when the game returns to sale. Thanks to everyone who pointed out the news.