Surprise surprise: Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be rated R. The developers have submitted the game for classification ratings worldwide, and while Australia hasn’t revealed if the game will be permissible for sale here yet, Brazil’s official agency has given the game an 18+ tag – and revealed the whole list of details why, including nudity, consumption of illicit drugs, and “intense sexual relations”.
As posted on Twitter, the descriptions listed by Brazil’s official ratings agency include the following: cruelty, suicide, nudity, prostitution, consumption of illicit drugs, sexual pleasurement, foul language, blood, sexual language, sexual exploitation, intentional death, mutilation, “intense sexual relation”, descriptions of drug consumption and trafficking, exposure to corpses, and the usual violence. The listing was pulled from the Classificacao Indicativa website, but not before users reposted it to the Cyberpunk 2077 subreddit and Twitter.
The ratings for #Cyberpunk2077 seem pretty crazy ???? I love it!! pic.twitter.com/29Dg6O4MQU
— Idle Sloth ????????♂️1️⃣2️⃣❎ (@IdleSloth1984) April 25, 2020
To their credit, the lead quest designer on Cyberpunk 2077 simply replied: “You surprised? We don’t fuck around.”
The content is basically a laundry list of all the things Witcher 3 fans would want in the gritty world of Cyberpunk 2077. And a lot of it lines up with past information. The note about suicide, for instance, lines up with the side quest accidentally revealed by Grimes (who does the voice acting for a pop-star in-game).
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/02/cyberpunk-2077-grimes-role/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2020/02/cyberpunk-2077-grimes-1-410×231.jpg” title=”Grimes’ Role In Cyberpunk 2077 Sounds Amazing” excerpt=”People have been clamouring for Cyberpunk 2077’s gritty, adult take on an open-world RPG. And if the tidbits revealed by artist Grimes are anything to go by, the developers are nailing the tone.”]
A few of these things would ordinarily be a red flag for the Classification Board in Australia, under our current regime. Consumption of illicit drugs can always be a problem – if they’re titled after real-world narcotics, as Fallout 3 discovered. Some of the drugs in Cyberpunk 2020, the source pen-and-paper RPG which the game draws inspiration from, include SynthCoke, a synthetic replacement for cocaine. It’s not known if this has been included in Cyberpunk 2077 itself, although if it was, it wouldn’t be a hard thing to rename to avoid the ire of censors.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/10/dont-blame-the-classification-board-for-dayz-blame-the-government/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/08/dayz-1-410×231.jpg” title=”Don’t Blame The Classification Board For DayZ, Blame The Government” excerpt=”Games don’t get banned all that often, and every time it happens there’s a surge of interest in Australia’s archaic classification system.”]
The initial preview impressions of Cyberpunk 2077 from E3 2018 immediately drew concerns about whether the game would be classified here. Australian press and influencers playing the game reported seeing substance abuse and use of an inhaler that restores health, two massive red flags in the refused classification guidelines. “Computer games will also be Refused Classification if they contain: (i) illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards; (ii) interactive drug use which is detailed and realistic,” the Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games 2012 legislation says.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/06/cyberpunk-2077-e3-2018-concerns-rated-australia-cd-projekt-red/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/06/cyberpunk-2077-2-410×231.jpg” title=”Cyberpunk 2077 Might Have Troubles Getting Rated In Australia” excerpt=”People have been waiting keenly for Cyberpunk 2077 ever since it was first announced. But judging by the Australians who have gotten hands-on time with the new CD Projekt RED RPG at E3 this year, there’s a genuine concern that it might not get past the Classification Board.”]
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/08/everything-that-will-get-your-game-banned-in-australia/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/08/hotline-miami-collection-1-410×231.jpg” title=”Everything That Will Get Your Game Banned In Australia” excerpt=”Australia might have an R18 rating for video games, but we also have some hugely strict limits on what can actually be classified R18.”]
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