Pulled Game Shocker: Nintendo Switch Hit Faces Age Rating Trouble!

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Summary

  • The Hungry Lamb was removed from the Japanese Nintendo eShop four days after release due to age rating issues.
  • Publisher 2P Games plans to reevaluate the rating and relist the game; current owners won’t face issues trying to play it.
  • The visual novel, set in ancient China, has garnered success since its PC launch last year, and a sequel is confirmed for late 2025.

The hit visual novel The Hungry Lamb: Traveling in the Late Ming Dynasty has been pulled from the Japanese Nintendo Switch shop mere days after its release. The game was initially launched for PC in 2024, but a global Nintendo Switch release was scheduled for March 2025.

Developed by ZerocreationGames and published by 2P Games, The Hungry Lamb is a dark historical visual novel that originally launched on Steam in April 2024. The game currently has an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on the platform with over 42,000 reviews. In January 2025, 2P Games revealed that The Hungry Lamb had reached over one million copies sold, and later confirmed its worldwide release for Nintendo Switch on March 13. However, the Switch version of The Hungry Lamb has been off to a rocky start in some regions due to its age rating.

As reported by Automaton, The Hungry Lamb has been removed from the Japanese Nintendo Switch store after only four days since its release. According to 2P Games, The Hungry Lamb‘s age rating is being reevaluated in the Japanese storefront and thus has been temporarily delisted. The visual novel initially launched with a 16+ IARC rating in Japan, which is lower than the ESRB Teen and PEGI 18 ratings it received in North America in the UK, respectively. The Nintendo eShop lets publishers easily change a game’s age rating without pulling it from sale, except when the increase is by two levels or to an 18+ category. While 2P Games hasn’t confirmed the game’s new rating, it is expected to be 18+. Per The Hungry Lamb‘s description on Steam, the visual novel contains sensitive content like cannibalism, human trafficking, “depictions of sexual violence,” and more.

The Hungry Lamb Pulled From Sale on Japanese Switch Shop Due to Age Rating

2P Games assured fans that The Hungry Lamb will return to the Switch shop and players who have already purchased it won’t experience any problems when playing. The Hungry Lamb is set in ancient China and follows the story of Liang, a bandit who has been commissioned to escort four young girls to Luoyang. In the process, he discovers that the girls might be eaten by a swine demon once they reach their destination. 2P Games has stated that The Hungry Lamb became the second best-selling Chinese game of 2024, and a sequel called The Weeping Swan: Ten Days of the City’s Fall has been confirmed for late 2025 as well.

It isn’t too uncommon for games to have issues with age ratings in some regions because of their content. Players might remember when the hit indie Balatro was mistakenly rated as an 18+ title and was even removed from the Nintendo eShop in the UK. While Japanese fans wait for The Hungry Lamb‘s return, the game is available in the Nintendo Shop in other regions with a 10% discount celebrating its launch.

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2025-03-18 23:24