In an email screencapped by a reddit user, Jonatan Söderströmm co-creator of Hotline Miami, has told Australians that if they want to play the recently banned Hotline Miami 2 they should "just pirate it".
"If it ends up not being released in Australia," he wrote, "just pirate it after release.
"No need to send us any money, just enjoy the game!"
The email was confirmed as legitimate by Polygon's Ben Kuchera. Ars Technica also confirmed that the email was real with Devolver representatives.
Devolver currently has no plans to challenge the Classification Board's ruling on Hotline Miami 2, despite claiming that the Board was wrong to refuse the game classification. As per Devolver's official statement: "[W]e are concerned and disappointed that a board of professionals tasked with evaluating and judging games fairly and honestly would stretch the facts to such a degree and issue a report that describes specific thrusting actions that are not simply present in the sequence in question and incorrectly portrays what was presented to them for review."
At this stage it is looking unlikely that Hotline Miami 2 will be officially released in Australia.
Comments
Now THIS is how you tell censorship boards to shove it! I take my hat off for these developers! I was going to DL via US PSN as I normally do anyway, but the fact they care more about us enjoying the game than money, it truly earns respect in my eyes.
F the ACB and just DL for free...Best developer ever! I already buy US PSN digital codes in order to save 50% on all of my PS4 games, so playing HLM2 will be oh so simple. I loved HLM so I can't wait!
What can the ACB or Customs do about it? Absolutely NOTHING! Major lols @ all the ultra religious politicians who created these laughable censorship laws.
See idiots, your subjective morality based laws are useless!
In other news, yesterday I watched the film Homesman which contained 3 rape scenes. One was even male. But phew, am I glad the classification board saved me from having to view contextual rape content as performed by.. what looks to be... torn up paper napkins? - takes me back to when I watched Fellini's 8 1/2-bit.
Amazeballs.
So the first time ever in the history of game, pirating a game wont be illegal....right?
Rather than encouraging piracy - why not just provide it online, for free, for people from Australia?
Because he can be seen as breaking the law then openly. If they ever come here, or do business here, that can impact them. Piracy is our choice, but supplying it to us when its been RC'd can get them into hot water technically.
Well I wasn't going to buy it. Still haven't bought the first one. But now.... Streisand effect....
Wrong! They wouldn't be supplying it on AU servers so its not illegal. That's like saying Ozgameshop is breaking the law by selling RC games, when in fact the games come from overseas and the store sells to anyone from any country.
Provided it's not hosted in Oz, they are not under Oz jurisdiction. Period. The police, customs or the government can't do a damn thing. Downloading from a dev supported server for free would be the perfect legal solution. Despite popular belief, Customs generally don't give two hoots about importing banned games. They have more important things to attend to...Like guns, drugs and other "real" issues - I know from experience as I have imported many MANY banned games. Some unlucky people get the odd pigish customs officer who thinks games are worth wasting time to confiscate, but 99% of the time they simply don't even bother.
But all that's irrelevant with the age of the internet. You can now simply take 5 seconds to download via US PSN, XBL or pirate a banned game/buy it legit online for PC. It means nothing even if RC games are illegal in WA/NT, as downloading is impossible ro regulate. The government will never understand this though and keep thinking that a board of 5 or 6 people actually serve some purpose when they decide to "RC" game X or Y. Legally bound classifications are pointless in this day and age - we don't have to rely on brick & mortar stores anymore, soooo....The ACB & government can keep thinking they matter while WE make our OWN entertainment choices using OUR OWN judgement.
These guys are gods... pure god damn awesomeness
government stands to gain tax from the game sales, this is just their way of letting them know that.
They are real developers. They don't care about money. So I'll buy this game for my friends too
These devs deserve more
Do you think G2A would give it to us
A great company and a great game. I would send them money just for saying that. We live in an over-policed controlled hub here in Australia.
What a nice person. Screw Australia for not letting us play this game.
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