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.
[source kotaku.com.au, via vg247.com, vg247.com]
Comments 8
18+ for implied violence. Make sure your kids don't watch the news then. At least they've been busy is all I can say.
Australia is a sad country for a gamer to live in. :/
@SimonAdebisi It's bonkers that shooting people in the face gets you MA15+, but the inclusion of implied sexual violence bumps it up to R18+.
'Aiden know what to say' lol made me laugh
@get2sammyb my opinion is that they should do away with the laws altogether and let the video game industry suggest a rating that lazy parents can look at. If you leave a child to buy their own software and don't pay attention to what they're doing then its your own fault. Just because they're shooting peoples faces doesn't mean they're going to go out and throw rocks at cats.
@get2sammyb Welcome to the Australian classification board. They are determined to save us all from ourselves.
Still, at least we now have a R18 classification. A year ago, the game would have been censored or not released!
@Ginkgo it's the ghost of the NC-17 rating. Real life is way different, duh, but is it really worse to allude to rape in the plot than to have strip club/brothel scenes just to show digital boob? Again, not advocating sexual violence, it just seems equally offensive to women/feminists as what's already out there. I'd personally pick censorship over reclassifying the ratings and allowing creepy stuff in games that could scar a kid.
Hmm...interesting. I wonder if kids will still be badgering their parents to buy this, and if so, how much craftier they can be with their lies. Last time I went to GameStop, an 8 year old kid tried to convince his mom to get Mafia II for him and told her that the 360 could actively censor out the controversial material...
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