Hobo Simulator will never reach Aussies
Four months ago, Australia adopted a new model for video game classification in an attempt to age rate digital games on services like Steam in the country. Unsurprisingly, this has led to a lot of games getting rated and a huge number being banned.
In the past four months, Australia’s new self-filed online classification form system has refused classification to over 220 video games.
Oh no, Australia will now not be able to provide gamers with digital copies of Douchebag Beach Club or Drunk Driver (yes, both are real games banned classification).
If a game is refused classification in Australia, it becomes illegal to sell, advertise, or publicly exhibit in the country. Ouch!
While this 220 game ban in four months is technically four times the number of bans in the past decade, the move to classifying digital software has exponentially increased the number of games going through the system. This is not a direct comparison; let’s not make it one.