Australia and Germany want to be pussies about videogames, and unfortunately studios are going to have to account for such pussification if they want to sell their games in those territories. Blizzard is one such studio, confirming that the Australian and German versions of Diablo III will be edited in order to comply with strict censorship regulations. As for China? Well, that’s another matter entirely.
“Regions like Germany and Australia, we will have to change blood if we’re going to sell there. And that’s fine,” says lead designer Jay Wilson. “Those are the standards for those regions, and we don’t really have a problem with catering to what they need and what they want. But China’s going to be hard for us. Because a lot of the restrictions there are really… we may not be able to do them. It may not be possible.
“With our relationship with NetEase, we recently got new information about what China really wants, and it’s a lengthy list. It’s really hard for us to cater to. We’ll try. There’s no reason we wouldn’t want to go there, but there is a certain point where we’d have to redo so much of the game that it’s not viable anymore.
“We could have a lot of trouble with China, but it would be our goal to go there. We haven’t decided what regions we’re going into, obviously. It certainly would be our goal to go there, but we will struggle to go to China.”
Blizzard is no stranger to Chinese restrictions, with the government doing what it can to stamp out World of Warcraft. With Germany and Australia, it’s same sad story — gamers out there having to pay more money for less content. It’s amazing that, in this day and age, such backwards nonsense still goes on.
