Far Cry 4 Gets Surprise Censorship Update—Then Uncensored Again

In a surprising twist, Far Cry 4 players recently discovered that a stealthy April 2025 update had censored nudity in the game—more than a decade after its original release. Characters who had been fully or partially nude since the game’s 2014 launch were suddenly covered up without any announcement or patch notes from Ubisoft.

Topless NPCs Now Covered — But Why?

The change first caught players’ attention in the Shanath Arena, where a previously topless female NPC was suddenly wearing a bra-like garment. In another scene, protagonist Ajay Ghale, who once appeared fully nude in certain moments, now sported a loincloth. These modifications, spotted by players and reported by Insider Gaming, quickly sparked debate across forums like Reddit.

Curious fans began scanning Far Cry 4 for additional changes and even checked other entries in the series—like Far Cry 3 and Far Cry: Primal—to see if similar censorship had quietly rolled out elsewhere.

Speculation Points to Tencent Partnership

The update's timing raised eyebrows, especially since Far Cry 4 hadn’t received an update in nearly two years. Some players speculated that the changes might be linked to Ubisoft’s recent partnership with Tencent, which now co-manages three major Ubisoft franchises, including Far Cry, Assassin’s Creed, and Rainbow Six.

Given China's strict media guidelines, players wondered if content changes were a sign of things to come.

Ubisoft Responds: “It Was a Mistake”

Following community backlash and media coverage, Ubisoft issued a public statement, confirming that the censorship was unintentional. Responding to Insider Gaming, the publisher explained:

“The update was the result of a mistake during deployment. Content intended specifically for the Japanese version of the game was accidentally pushed to the global Steam version.”

In Japan, video game regulations require stricter coverage of nudity, and Ubisoft had created regional assets to comply. Those localized files were mistakenly released worldwide.

Original Content Restored

Ubisoft quickly pushed out a fix, restoring the original, uncensored assets to Steam. Players still seeing the censored version were advised to restart the platform and download the corrected files. The company also reassured fans:

“Just to reassure everyone: there are no plans to censor Far Cry. This was purely a regional packaging error and has now been fully addressed.”

A Reminder of Global Distribution Complexities

The situation highlights the challenges developers face managing multiple regional versions of games, especially across global platforms like Steam. What made this case more unusual is that Far Cry 4 already had an M rating from the ESRB, which clearly warned players about nudity—including one battle sequence where "a man’s genitals are briefly exposed."

Despite being over 10 years old, Far Cry 4 remains one of the franchise's fan favorites. It sold over 10 million copies during the PS4/Xbox One generation and is still considered a high point in the series by many longtime fans.