We have just recently discovered that EA’s new Syndicate reboot, has been Refused Classification in Australia.
We’re currently attempting to get in contact with EA locally, and with the Classification Board to find out precisely why this is the case, and will update the story with more details as we get them.
Thanks to Luke Lawrie
Phill // Bset
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:37 PMlol, wtf? :/
D.C.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:38 PM*sigh*
Scared
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:40 PMI second that
Cymelion
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:40 PMWhy sigh? Haven’t people been complaining it is a bad FPS remake?
weresmurf
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:51 PMNo. That would be the uninformed idiot internet masses. Infact, word from those who have ACTUALLY PLAYED IT, comes back saying its quite damn good.
D.C.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 3:08 PMI’m looking forward to X-Com too, if that means any thing. :D
PiratePete1911
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 4:09 PMI am complaining because its called Syndicate, I firmly believe it will be a great game simply because of the previous games Starbreeze has made.
Fenixius
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:39 PMAhahahaha. But Aliens vs. Predator is allowed through?
Also, I couldn’t play this anyway, as it’s only on Origin. Sadface at Origin.
Neo-Kaiser
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:41 PMAVP was originally RC. Then they retorted with “Come ooon”. So we get the game at 15+ despite everywhere else has it for adults.
Aaron
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:52 PMThey also had to pay $10,000.
So it was ‘come oooooon’, /waggles roll of hundreds suggestively.
Pariah
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:44 PMAlien vs. Predator was initially RC too, but it was appealed and overturned. Let’s hope the same happens here.
Andrew
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:22 PMNo – lets hope it’s turned over because it meets the guidelines; the whole point of us gamers arguing for an R18+ is because games that are outside the guidelines are being crammed in to the wrong category, thus giving conservative pundits more ammo to block a reform.
I’m as sad face as I can get about this news, but I’m not going to give pressure groups another game they can ‘scare’ Australian politicians with.
Shane
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:39 PMHere we go again.
scree
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:19 PM+1
MoVENTURA
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:39 PMWell at least people pissed off about it being reimagined as a first person shooter don’t have to worry anymore as they wont be able to play it
Anyone else will just pirate/import as they did with Mortal Kombat and all Australian companies miss out on profits.
giort08
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 10:56 PMyup, either an ebay purchase or ozgameshop for me :)
Rod
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:39 PMOffensive misuse of a classic title?
NotTheMama
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:09 PMHaha!! Thats classic!!
Andy
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:39 PMLet the downloading begin. Refusing classification actually make me want it more, and I know I am not alone. Refusing classification isn’t the answer. I thought we were close to a R18+ rating for games.
Drew
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:42 PMClose for our goverment means still quite a while away :(
Alinos
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:49 PMForbidden fruit FTW :D
shodannet
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:39 PMBWAHAHAHA xD Our rating systems so screwed its funny in a tragic way
Neo-Kaiser
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:40 PMHey, we still have about 10 days to get an adults rating that was promised to be here before the end of the year…
redartifice
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:40 PMHave to say I’m not real surprised- everything I’ve seen about this game puts it at the pretty extreme violence end of the spectrum.
oggob
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:28 PMI’m banking on drugs, in one of the trailer you see your character helping a co-op player out and the needle it driven into the person to revive, I’m guessing it will be another Fallout situation and the drug is a real life one.
James Mac
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 3:52 PMLatest trailer had you stabbing a guy and removing his eyeball…
Jim
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:41 PMThis time last year we were hopeful we wouldnt have to worry about this kind of thing with the introduction of R18+… Times change, huh? Not when the governments involved…
kane
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:42 PM10 bucks on the brain digging thing/forced suicide being too much.
Jaded_Buddha
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:44 PMJust when u thought this crap was over with!
Cannon
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:44 PMas far as i was aware it had nothing going for it, that would cause Refused classification … not that im after this game but still ….
Blood Apathy
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:45 PMI mentioned this on twitter, but i am starting to wonder if someone at the classification board is getting kick backs from companies who export to aus. The serious amount of coin that goes overseas when games like this get RC’ed is amazing.
Gleno
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 3:13 PMYou can’t blame the Classification Board, they can only work to the criteria they are given. They must get as frustrated as any of us over these issues. The game is unlikely to be certified ok for 15 year olds anywhere in the western world
The certificate has a ‘duration’ entry, which shows the system was clearly built to certify movies.
The video game industry is out-grossing hollywood, and Australia is yet to specifically acknowledge it.
Too much to worry about with “stopping the boats” and figuring out just how quickly we should kill the planet I guess.
SRG
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 3:52 PMUh, you can absolutely blame the board. Your argument is like saying you can’t blame nazis for stuffing jews into boxcars, since that was their job.
(blah blah blah godwin’s law blah blah blah. It’s a valid comparison because we’re comparing fascist states)
SimonC
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 4:04 PMWTF? Now you’re comparing the Classification Board to Nazis
SRG
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 4:16 PMYes, I’m comparing two groups that decide what adults may or may not see, listen to, or read. Censorship is an evil, evil act. If nobody is harmed in the creation of a book, movie, game, or any other work, there is no justifiable reason for a consenting adult to not be able to view it. Anyone who disagrees is fascist trash.
Gleno
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 4:09 PMI’m really torn now … I don’t like nazi’s, but can sympathize with the classification board. How can I sleep at night?
SRG
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 4:17 PMI don’t know how anyone who would seek to deprive someone of liberty can sleep at night, ever.
Cameron
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 4:23 PMHere here. While I think your comparison is perhaps a little bit insensitive, I agree with your argument. Anyone involved in the censorship of content deserves what they get. It’s a disgusting practice and should be expelled from modern society. There is absolutely NO reason to refuse access to a game or book or film where the entire work is a work of art (ie FICTION).
SRG
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 5:28 PMI don’t think it’s insensitive. Fascist states start with little things like censorship and disarming the public, then move on to more exciting things like mass murder.
4len
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 10:41 AMWhere in your mind are you missing the point that A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD IS NOT AN ADULT. The people ON the classification board are doing their job, choosing whether or not something fits in the CURRENT system> They don’t make the rules, they just abide by them. ALL ADULTS should be allowed to play Syndicate, but there is no R18+ yet, so if this game should be viewed by adults, LEGAL ADULTS, then fair enough it should be band…
Don’t hate the player…
Swipe
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:46 PMIs this an appropriate time for a man to cry?
Braaains
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:05 PMThe time for that was when they announced that they were turning Syndicate into an FPS.
Lord Crumplebottom
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:09 PMThey made it an FPS?!
Yeah, nothing of value was lost here then.
Swipe
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:24 PM…Touché. I guess i forgot about the true origins and what was going on here..
Okay I’m good now.
giort08
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 11:01 PMName of the game aside, have you guys actually played anything from Starbreeze? They’re Awesome, and this game looks like another top one from them.
Lord Crumplebottom
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:46 PMOzGameShop will be able to afford that new Mercedes now!
Todd
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:47 PMAnd yet I can go on YouTube or gametrailers and watch the worst of it anyway.
Go on Aussie pollies ban YouTube…I dare you.
What an antiquated system we have, why so long to affect change?
Trjn
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:49 PMThe American politicians are already working on that one.
Blood Apathy
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:52 PMssshhh. We dont want to give them any more ideas. No great firewall of china in australia! although seems like we are heading that way.
Sam
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:54 PMThey won’t censor the internet any time soon, don’t worry. Remember last election they talked about it for about a week then went all hush-hush about it?
They know for a fact that internet filtering is political suicide.
N0NEoftheAB0VE
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 8:47 PMI was thinking the same thing – there’s no end of gore and violence all over YouTube. Having said that some of the games that get an MA in this country are beyond the pale, it would be best for all if they just hurry up with the R rating already (what still has to happen to bring this in?)
Meteors
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:48 PMI never understood why Mark and other games journalists yelled “hurrah, success!” when a politician promised them something with no concrete timeline or guarantee. This shit was never going to happen. It always was, and still is, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’.
AkIRA
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:49 PMWell I’ll either import or steal it. either way no one wins. I will say this, when I watched the first walk though video I thought the graphic nature of the violence (making people kill others then themselves) might make it hard to get classified…. turns out my fears were correct.
Blood Apathy
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:55 PMWell in the long run your wallet will win. As we know 70% of the time the import is cheaper. Just means you’ll have to wait, and the Australian economy misses out again. But hey, the customs and postal workers will earn their 2cents for handling your parcel at least.
D.C.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:56 PMPeople who want to play it will still be able to, only people they’re hurting are local retailers. We all know this now, they should too. :S Maybe if we ignore ‘em they’ll go away.
Manne
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:56 PMI think the classification board has a worse effect on people than Video Games.
f4ction
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:58 PM“And nothing of value was lost”
Lazlow
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 1:59 PMExcellent news. A victory for good taste.
GentlemanJ
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:03 PMI’m guessing it relates to the suicide aspect of the games (making the gaurds kill themselves).
dan
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:28 PMbut you could do that in star wars the force unleashed 2
murray
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:33 PMI was doing that in Kotor2.
“You want to jump off this ledge” *waves hand*
Dark side was so much fun.
Shane
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 2:34 PMAh, you could make the stormtroopers jump, but did they die or were they just unconscious? A bloodless Star Wars universe makes it hard to tell :)
N0NEoftheAB0VE
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 8:49 PM“The Happening” was on TV the other night with an “M” rating and that showed shit-tonnes (yes that’s a word) of people suiciding.