The Australian classification board are at it again and this time it’s Undead Labs’ survival zombie title State of Decay that has been refused classification by the Australian ratings board,
The news appeared on Twitter earlier linking to a forum post from Undead Labs’ founder Jeff Strain which reads:
Hola Australian State of Decay fans,
I have bad news to share: State of Decay has been refused classification by the Australian Classification Board (ACB). We’ve run afoul of certain prohibitions regarding the depiction of drug use. We’re working with Microsoft to come up with options, including changing names of certain medications in the game to comply with ratings requirements. Whatever our path forward, it’s going to take a bit.
I know this is frustrating — believe me, we’re frustrated too — but each country has the right to set its own rules about content, and it’s our responsibility to comply with them. Rest assured we’ll do everything we can to find a way to get the game into your hands. Stay tuned.
Jeff
Undead Labs will likely have to rework some aspects of the game to get it rated but no doubt some solution will be found to get the game released in Australia.
Saint’s Row IV also recently fell victim to the Aussie rating board who were unhappy with the use of the phrase “Alien Anal Probe” and the game’s “alien” drug references according to site PlayerAtack. Deep Silver are looking at ways to rework the offending content to satisfy the board.
