Scenes of Sexual Violence Uploaded to Watch Dogs During Delay

Watch Dogs may have primarily been delayed for polish purposes, but publisher Ubisoft also used the additional time to add some edgy extra content to the title. Eagle eyed gamers noticed that the Australian classification for the sandbox release was resubmitted last week, with the title earning an R18+ rating, as opposed to its original MA15+. Tweaks included an increase in violence, drug use, and sexual content. Now the French company has issued a statement on the changes.

“The entire development team has been working hard to polish and fine tune Watch Dogs in order to deliver a truly memorable open world game,” a spokesperson said. “In parallel, the extra time also allowed the team to include a bit of additional content. As per Australian classification guidelines, Ubisoft resubmitted the updated version with the added content to the Australian Classification Board (ACB). The decision to amend the rating was made by the ACB.”

While the firm hasn’t confirmed what this additional content will entail, a Kotaku report claims that a scene involving human trafficking and sexual violence has been incorporated into the game. According to the publication, you won’t actually see any acts of assault take place, but it will be heavily implied. This kind of cruelty is not permitted by Australia’s MA15+ tier, so the game was raised to an R18+ as a result. You’ll be able to see what all the fuss is about on 27th May.