Yesterday, we brought you word of a brewing controversy surrounding the upcoming PS5 action game Rise of the Ronin after director Fumuhiko Yasuda made some comments alluding to a controversial 19th-century Japanese philosopher. It was supposed that these comments were why Sony confirmed the game would not be released in Korea, but now Sony says it never planned on selling the game in one of the world's most lucrative markets in the first place.
In a statement to IGN, Sony pushed back on the various reports that popped up in response to the news, stating explicitly: "Rise of the Ronin for PlayStation 5 was never officially announced for release in Korea. We can confirm that the title is not going to be sold or published in South Korea in any form, physical or digital."
Doing deeper digging, IGN contests initial reporting from Western outlets, suggesting that if a South Korean version of the game was planned, Sony hasn't mentioned it for quite some time. They point to the Indonesian PlayStation Store's game page, which lists Korean as a supported language, and to the South Korean PlayStation Blog, which lists the game in its 2022 State of Play roundup. For the record, South Korea is among the most significant video game-consuming markets in the world, ranked at #4 in 2021, accounting for almost 10% of global consumption.