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Discussion Pragmata Thread

Thread Description
Design changes, target audiences, backlash
Ebicentre

Ebicentre

Cunnysouir
Regular
varishangout.com

After several delays - on the 17th of April, 2026 - Pragmata is finally out now on PC (Steam), PS5, Xbox and Switch 2.​


Predictably, controversy swelled immediately on launch day (almost like people were coordinating their attacks on Discord servers or something). The first trigger point was this Twitch emote promotional campaign by Capcom, featuring Diana as a crying emoji (dubbed 'Cryana'):

pragmata 02.jpeg


The majority of the backlash is fuelled by the belief that Diana is a child/based on a child (she isn't), and on overall lack of understanding lolicon culture.

There's also another backlash against a Twitter user (who got suspended because people reported him), posting how he got blocked by the official Pragmata account for calling out censorship on Diana's design:

pragmata 01.jpeg


In actuality, the design change was pointed out by someone else back in December, 2025 (archive here). Suffice to say, there is an objective difference between before and after.

For comparison, let's take a look at Marvel v.s. Capcom 2 and the Mega Man character Roll:

marvel vs capcom 2 01.png


As we can see here, Capcom didn't particularly care about panty shots in the past. So, why the design change for Diana? We can point at two potential causes:

  1. Localizers, Westerners, or someone at Capcom complained/got cold feet, and insisted on changing her design to prevent up-skirt shots;
  2. Classification boards, specifically CERO, flagged Diana's spats as a potential problem for a lower age rating.

In my opinion, this time it's most likely CERO. If the censorship was an internal decision by Capcom, they wouldn't allow you to see Diana's spats in the art book (which can be viewed in-game):

pragmata 03.jpeg


CERO is quite infamous for becoming increasingly strict over the last ten years, and Capcom specifically got in trouble before over Street Fighter V.


Anyway, I'll await the Twitter cancellation campaign after they find this thread.
 
1776566505244.png

kiwifarms is mildly upset that there are pedophile dogwhistles on the front page of steam in the best sellers list
 
Diana voiced by Grace Saif, a nigger

that's gonna prevent me from jumping in, I'm out
 
oh shit I didn't even realize that was a thing

still just once I wish one of these fucking companies would localize a game properly

just ONE TIME
 
NLDX said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2045206101554061604

https://twitter.com/x/status/2045293585948430732

https://twitter.com/x/status/2045563882761056559

https://twitter.com/x/status/2046103644366393831

That all I found...
Click to expand...
I knew about the DEI shit in the game back when the demo dropped. Though I will say it's kind of ironic how this pro-natalism game features a white man and girl instead of the usual garbage. So maybe they're secretly telling the white race to procreate? Lol
 
This game really brought out the hypocrites. Now the "anti-DEI" guy is cheering on DEI censorship.
https://twitter.com/x/status/2045450803326918805

Ebicentre said:
In my opinion, this time it's most likely CERO. If the censorship was an internal decision by Capcom, they wouldn't allow you to see Diana's spats in the art book (which can be viewed in-game):
Click to expand...
Panty censorship is never CERO, and the reasoning you are using actually proves it's not.
 
Ebicentre said:
Please elaborate.
Click to expand...
If there was something in the game not allowed by CERO it would be pulled from the shop like this:

Nipple Slips Banish Super Real Mahjong PV From Nintendo eShop

Retro revival Super Real Mahjong PV has been ousted from the Nintendo eShop despite having only recently launched, with publisher MightyCraft explaining that the removal was due to certain scenes having inadequate censorship. The mahjong title (originally released for arcades and eventually t
news.sankakucomplex.com
 
Narmy said:
If there was something in the game not allowed by CERO it would be pulled from the shop like this:

Nipple Slips Banish Super Real Mahjong PV From Nintendo eShop

Retro revival Super Real Mahjong PV has been ousted from the Nintendo eShop despite having only recently launched, with publisher MightyCraft explaining that the removal was due to certain scenes having inadequate censorship. The mahjong title (originally released for arcades and eventually t
news.sankakucomplex.com
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That article talks about a retroactive instance of censorship. It's standard practice for the classification boards to review a game before suggesting an age rating or otherwise flagging something as 'problematic'. Sakurai recalled how CERO told him to censor Palutena and Peach (archive), and it's quite obvious he wasn't happy with them over that.

The uncensored concept art still being in Pragmata lends more credence to that being the same case.
 
Ebicentre said:
That article talks about a retroactive instance of censorship. It's standard practice for the classification boards to review a game before suggesting an age rating or otherwise flagging something as 'problematic'. Sakurai recalled how CERO told him to censor Palutena and Peach (archive), and it's quite obvious he wasn't happy with them over that.

The uncensored concept art still being in Pragmata lends more credence to that being the same case.
Click to expand...
Yes, I'm saying if CERO didn't allow panties (or spats in this case) then that concept art would be retroactively censored. They didn't make Sakurai censor either, he chose to do that. I'm really not sure why people keep bringing up that example in the first place, is the ESRB forcing devs to censor blood by giving games with blood a T rating?
 
Narmy said:
Yes, I'm saying if CERO didn't allow panties (or spats in this case) then that concept art would be retroactively censored.
Click to expand...
I think what matters to them more is the ability to move the camera underneath her.

Narmy said:
They didn't make Sakurai censor either, he chose to do that.
Click to expand...
They only 'choose' to censor because they're told to aim for higher sales and avoid a certain rating. If developers are threatened with a higher rating, they're forced to comply. For titles like Smash Bros., that means they want the child demographic. For eroges on Steam, for example, that usually means off-site patches.

Narmy said:
I'm really not sure why people keep bringing up that example in the first place, is the ESRB forcing devs to censor blood by giving games with blood a T rating?
Click to expand...
People bring it up because, historically, higher age ratings have caused games to get banned. Made worse by the fact many classification boards are government-owned. Sometimes the devs get around the censorship by releasing three versions: the uncensored international release, the severely toned-down CERO-D version and a less censored CERO-Z release. Resident Evil would be banned in Japan if they only released the international versions.

In case it's not clear to anyone reading, obviously I despise age rating censorship. I live in a country that uses this mechanism all the time to ban manga and light novels, not just games. Explaining the rationale isn't the same as agreeing with it.
 
Modern Audiences Are Unsustainable
After a few months of Pragmata being successful, anti-fans & haters will attempt to memory-hole the fact that they were ever against this game. What I've just described was based on the observable reality that cancel culture isn't real without compliance. As long as Capcom doesn't apologize or censor, there will be no cancellation. Regarding fiction, cancel culture (and political correctness) are used as a weapon by people who are Anti-Fiction. Appealing to the Anti-Fiction has been unsustainable since they always use their weapon of cancel culture to increasingly attack whatever/whomever they dislike while ignoring noncompliant fictional expressions in things they like. Furthermore, it's harmful to fiction as a medium to replace unique fictional expressions with standardization. It should be left up to the people to decide if they think political correctness is good when applied to nonfiction, but cancel culture that attacks works of fiction (such as Pragmata) and restrictions on fictional expressions (like those Capcom has enforced or complied with) are toxic to the medium of fiction.

---
Narmy said:
Panty censorship is never CERO, and the reasoning you are using actually proves it's not.
Click to expand...
I believe compliance with CERO might be stricter when it comes to upskirt shots (photo mode and posing) over panties themselves. For example, Final Fantasy XIV had its age rating increased to D because CERO decided its photo/pose mode was noncompliant.[1] Incidentally, the preservation of Final Fanatasy XIV's photo/pose mode was a rare case where Square Enix refused to be compliant and censor. In a similar situation, Guilty Gear Strive had its CERO rating increased from B to C, and even then Arc System Works censored its photo/pose mode.[2] Contrary to other people's theories, my theory is that the censorship of Guilty Gear Strive's photo mode was Arc System Works avoiding an increase to CERO D rather than the theorized failed attempt at stopping the increase from CERO B to CERO C.

Regarding panties themselves, evidence indicates panties are allowed for CERO C even with the modern enforcement of CERO.
1000071667.jpg
It used to be allowed for CERO A. The CERO A-rated Dragon Ball Origins 1 and 2 are the best examples of how unrestricted CERO used to be even after its 2006 revision. As for CERO B's enforcement in the modern era, more investigation needs to be done.

Regardless, I believe it's likely Diana's design in the CERO C-rated Pragmata was self-restricted by Capcom for the "modern audience." (In actuality, "unsustainable audiences" is more accurate. Not every change may be entirely in response to a changing cultural climate. The activists that are being complied with are those who broadly and increasingly want restrictions on creators/creatives' fictional expressions. Whether it's restrictions to adhere to realism, restrictions to adhere to political correctness, or restrictions aiming to expurgate; fiction restrictions aren't sustainable. They are Anti-Fiction.) Dead Rising's 2024 remaster and Onimusha 2's 2025 remaster are examples of Capcom censoring for unsustainable audiences. Notably, Capcom's restrictions on character designs in Resident Evil 3 and 4's remakes has similarities with Pragmata.
Regarding Resident Evil 3's remake, Jill has the option to wear her classic outfit, but its actually a censored version. Unlike other characters who can only wear their remake outfits, Jill was evidence that Capcom has been censoring their fictional expressions. If it wasn't for censorship, the characters' selectable classic oufits would've released unrestricted in the remakes. However because of censorship by Capcom, Jill's skirt was changed to a skort in Resident Evil 3's classic outfit DLC.
- For more details on RE3's remake, see:

Resident Evil 3 Remake Changes Jill's Classic Outfit DLC by Having Her Wear "Skort"

Keen observers of the Resident Evil 3 Remake have stumbled upon the realization that Jill Valentine's classic outfit DLC actually has her wearing a "skort" rather than a skirt, essentially rewriting the history of the game in order to cater to sex appeal hating feminists. Jill's skirt from the or
news.sankakucomplex.com
- RE4's remake is known for censorship that goes beyond outfits and designs. However, focusing on outfits, Remake Ashley's skirt was censored with a skort, just like Remake Jill's classic DLC outfit in RE3's remake. Additionally, other outfits in RE4's remake are more restricted than their original counterparts. See:
Capcom Remake Self-Censorship.jpg

- Remake Ada's sweater outfit (which is based off of her outfit in the original Resident Evil 4's The Mercenaries gamemode) had a more revealing version during development. The following is from beta footage/test footage from Resident Evil 4's remake:
RE4 (2023) beta unrestricted top - Ada.png

RE4 (2023) beta unrestricted back - Ada.png

For an easy-to-see full body render, here's a modded recreation of Remake Ada's beta design:
1780-1695527569-1236521717.jpeg

Compare that to Remake Ada's finalized design, here:
Ada_Wong_%28RE4make%29.png
 
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someone should make a mod that gives Diana shoes and say it's for CenturyZetaZ to be able to play without violating the terms of his supervised release
 
s8n said:
someone should make a mod that gives Diana shoes and say it's for CenturyZetaZ to be able to play without violating the terms of his supervised release
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I genuinely question what shoes have to do with the terms of his release.
Who even is CenturyZetaZ?
 
Ronnie21093 said:
I genuinely question what shoes have to do with the terms of his release.
Who even is CenturyZetaZ?
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I'm just implying he's a child molester, he's probably not really.
He's the dude in the tweet quoted upthread who started an internet shitstorm about diana's spats being censored then got mysteriously suspended from twitter.
It's probably not funny if you didn't get it, it would probably be funnier if elon musk (that fag) didn't suspend everyone for no reason
 
Ebicentre said:
They only 'choose' to censor because they're told to aim for higher sales and avoid a certain rating. If developers are threatened with a higher rating, they're forced to comply. For titles like Smash Bros., that means they want the child demographic.
Click to expand...
That's unnecessary self-censorship. Super Smash Bros Brawl got a T rating from the ESRB and they didn't go back and censor it to try and get an E. The age rating is ultimately informational, not something publishers should be using as a goal, I think it gives them an easy escape when you blame rating boards for something they censored themselves. Plus it's irrelevant for Pragmata since the game is already rated C.

Ebicentre said:
Sometimes the devs get around the censorship by releasing three versions: the uncensored international release, the severely toned-down CERO-D version and a less censored CERO-Z release. Resident Evil would be banned in Japan if they only released the international versions.
Click to expand...
Yes, this is a case where CERO absolutely should be blamed. I just don't think it's helpful to deflect blame when it's not something specifically banned by CERO.
 
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