In less than two months, Saints Row IV will be releasing to the masses (one month ahead of Grand Theft Auto V), but when Volition and Deep Silver submitted the game to the Australian Classification Board, they received some history-making news.
Becoming the first ever game to be refused classification since the new guidelines came into effect on January 1st, 2013, Saints Row IV was turned down because it “includes interactive, visual depictions of implied sexual violence which are not justified by context. In addition, the game includes elements of illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards. Such depictions are prohibited by the computer games guidelines.”
Speaking on the matter, Donald McDonald, Acting Director of the Classification Board, said “Apart from today’s decision, since the beginning of the year, the Board has classified 17 games R 18+ under the new guidelines.”
Deep Silver sent out this following statement about the refusal:
Deep Silver can confirm that Saints Row IV was denied an age classification in Australia. Volition, the developer, are reworking some of the code to create a version of the game for this territory by removing the content which could cause offence without reducing the outlandish gameplay that Saints Row fans know and love. Saints Row IV has been awarded PEGI 18 and ESRB M ratings where fans can enjoy their time in Steelport as originally intended.
When Volition and Deep Silver do re-work the game to become classified, we’ll be sure to let you know.
What do you think about this news? Is Donald McDonald the greatest name you’ve heard all day? Let us know in the comments below.
