Massage Freaks, the rhythm game from publisher Qureate, has finally quietly released on Steam. To pass unnoticed, it is now called “beat refle”, which seems to be a pun on the term “Reflexology”.
At first, I leave you with the trailer of the game, just to situate the ‘problem’.
This upset release follows a controversy after the announcement of Massage Freaks. His portrayal of women and the scenarios they find themselves in has caused many to draw comparisons to the sex crimes happening right now in Japan. Additionally, much of the naughty content in the game appears to have been removed from the released version. Players can still access it through a patch on the official Qureate website and experience the beat reflects as planned, but it seems that in order to release the game with minimal fuss, Qureate has chosen to leave out content that could cause significant backlash. Finally, the first names of the characters in the game were identical to those of some members of the Japanese idol group “Hinatazaka46” before Qureate changed them. Indeed, beat refle’s Steam page contains a few choice statements to avoid any future controversy:
※ All characters involved in sexual content are over 18 years old.
※ This game is a work of fiction.
※ It has nothing to do with an actual person, group or incident.
※ This game is not intended to incite or encourage crime. Do not imitate.
In all this, the release of the game on the hybrid console is still very uncertain and in total vagueness. Although the game was launched on Steam, the launch of beat reflects on console is not mentioned anywhere on the official Qureate website and the eShop pages are still missing as of this writing, even though the page is still on the official Nintendo website (here).
At the time of the indefinite postponement, qureate refrained from providing the explicit reasons behind its decision, saying only that it was “the result of discussions between the parties concerned”.
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