YouTube Terminates VR Kanojo’s Account, Killing the Trailers of the Summer Lesson Adult Lookalike

Giuseppe Nelva January 27, 2017 12:34 PM EST

Apparently YouTube did not appreciate the latest trailer of the upcoming adult virtual reality game VR Kanojo.

Earlier today, the folks at the Japanese adult games developer Illusion uploaded a new trailer for the game on YouTube, but they probably weren’t expecting what happened later.

A few hours after the new trailer went up, YouTube removed it, citing a violation of its policy against “Spam, deceptive practices, and scams.”

That was just the beginning, since the video portal didn’t just remove the trailer, but completely terminated the game’s official account, effectively killing all the official trailers of the game.

For those unfamiliar with the game, VR Kanojo is a virtual reality title featuring adult interactions between a female student named Sakura and the player, who lives in the neighborhood and has been asked to tutor her.

If it sounds familiar, that’s because it is: The game has a lot in common with Bandai Namco’s Summer Lesson, besides, of course, the adult content.

The name Illusion itself might sound familiar, as the developer has been under the spotlight in the past due to the controversy generated by western media over its game Rapelay, that culminated with its removal from sale in some markets, and the studio pretty much locking itself and its games away from the west.

VR Kanojo is Illusion’s first opening to the western audience after those events, and it was even recently greenlighted on Steam.

At the moment, we don’t know the specific reasons why YouTube found the latest trailer in violation of its policies, nor why they decided that the violation was so serious to warrant the complete removal of the official account of a game developer.

The trailer portrayed the touch features of the game, that allow the player to use Oculus Touch of the HTC Vive controllers to grope Sakura-chan in different places. The video itself showcased touching on her breasts and crotch area. The character was fully dressed with jeans and a T-shirt, but abundant moaning and breast jiggle physics were included.

If we were to speculate, the violation is probably due to the clause that forbids “racy” or “sexually provocative” thumbnails.

“Selecting a sexually provocative thumbnail may result in the removal of your thumbnail or the age-restriction of your video. The thumbnail is the title card that will be shown next to your video across the site and should be appropriate for all ages.”

The thumbnail of the video was very similar to the first image below (be aware that it could be considered slightly not safe for work, so click on it at your own risk), featuring the groping of Sakura-chan’s fully-dressed chest.

That said, the clause mentions the removal of the thumbnail or the age-restriction of the video, not the removal of the trailer and even less the termination of the account, so the mystery remains.

It remains to be seen how Illusion will react to YouTube’s actions, and if they have any way to appeal against the decision. The trailers will possibly pop back up somewhere, considering that they’re a very relevant part of the game’s official home page.

At the moment, the only one left can be seen below, since Illusion posted it on its Vimeo account instead of using YouTube.

VR Kanojo will be released on PC (supporting Oculus Rift and HTC Vive) on February 28th, 2017