After the Starbreeze-developed title was refused classification by Australia's ratings and classification board, EA skips a release in the territory altogether.
Well this was an unfortunate but unexpected turn of events for Syndicate as it nears its global release. According to this Joystiq post, the ongoing muddle over game content ratings for Australia has left EA with three choices: appeal, alter the game, or forgo a release, and apparently after crunching the numbers the publisher has decided that option number three will involve the least headaches for their upcoming sci-fi shooter.
While the country struggles to create an adult classification for games—both Federal and local governments have their own standards for media content that can be released and distributed—for the time being, there's a firewall preventing mature content from getting into the country. Another recent high-profile ban was the rejection of the by all accounts terrible movie Human Centipede 2 after the Australian Classification Board found the movie "gratuitous," and "excessively violent."
I don't really have any kind of stake in the success of either Syndicate or Human Centipede, but I know I'd be frustrated if I was told that I was absolutely not allowed to decide if I could play or watch either one. For any of our Australian readers out there, if you'd like to let the members of your Parliament know how you feel about the issue, look them up and reach out.
Syndicate is coming to the U.S. on February 12th for the PC, PS3, and 360.
[Source: Joystiq]
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