Saints Row IV was refused due to “drug use related to incentives and rewards.”
Saints Row IV, which was originally refused classification last month, has once again been refused, this time by the Australian Classification Review Board. “In the Review Board’s opinion, Saints Row IV could not be accommodated within the R 18+ classification as drug use related to incentives and rewards is not permitted,” said the board in an official statement.
Saints Row IV being refused classifciation would normally not be a big deal, as Australia has a long history of banning games that don’t fall under its strict guidelines. Except that earlier this year, a new R 18+ rating was introduced specifically to prevent these kind of bans.
It should be noted that this is not the edited version of the game that was playable at PAX Australia, but rather a re-assessment of the original, unedited game. The next step from developer Volition will be to re-submit the watered-down version of the game to the Classification Board, and hope for the best.
The original refused classification report cited “interactive, visual depictions of implied sexual violence which are not justified by context,” an obvious reference to the game’s “Rectifier” anal probe weapon. The “elements of illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards” statement was also included in the original report.
Either way, its a good thing we have the government trying so hard to make sure adults aren’t subject to naughty things like this, or God knows what would happen to our society. I believe the Mad Max films were based on a version of Australia where the censorship board didn’t ban violent video games. Slippery slope people.
Source: Australian Classification Board
