EA issues statment on Syndicate ban

360 News | Want Syndicate? Well, tough...

Out of the blue, yesterday news broke that the EA reimagining of Syndicate has been refused classification in Australia, meaning that the title will not be sold on our shores. Those hoping for an appeal though, will be disappointed, as EA's PR has released the following statement with regards to the Refused Classification decision.

"It’s regrettable that government policy in Australia is denying adults the right to play Syndicate. The game will be not be available in Australia despite its enthusiastic response from fans. We were encouraged by the government’s recent agreement to adopt an 18+ age rating for games. However, delays continue to force an arcane censorship on games – cuts that would never be imposed on books or movies. We urge policy makers to take swift action to implement an updated policy that reflects today’s market and gives its millions of adult consumers the right to make their own content choices."

The statement went on to elaborate

EA will not release Syndicate in Australia. The reason for this is because we do not have an R18+ in place as yet.
EA will not be appealing the RC decision. Syndicate is a game made for a mature audience and any changes to would significantly affect the game's quality and appeal.
Syndicate will continue to be released in New Zealand (unchanged) on the 24th February 2012, and has a confirmed rating of R18.

While any legal process that isn't politically favourable can get locked in limbo, if anything, hopefully this decision will highlight that while the right decision has been made with regards to the revamped classification scheme, that it counts for nothing if it's not implemented.

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22 Comments

Jaws

1 year ago

Then I'll buy from NZ. Good on EA for sticking to it's guns. When you've worked hard on something as expressive as a video game, I agree that it would hurt the quality of the final product and is not worth it just to appease an "arcane" ratings system.

It's a real shame that it takes such time for the actual change in legislation to come into effect.

zzyss

1 year ago

The sad thing is that Australia is a backwater market that isn't big enough to influence large companies' business strategies. Hence restrictive government policy is literally distorting the market - allowing them to charge higher prices (which then goes into this whole "GST for online goods" debate).

Gah. So annoyed that I can't even string a coherent thought together. Hope you understand what I mean.

GooberMan

1 year ago

Not to put a damper on EA's argument there, but the original Men In Black was voluntarily trimmed by the studio so that it could get a PG in cinemas rather than its original M rating. Slightly different cutting RC down to MA15+, sure, but it's not like it's unheard of in other media.

It's still a joke though. Import it, the chances of customs opening your package is rather low.

Benza

1 year ago

The key difference is that those cuts weren't being imposed onto MIB to get it released, it was voluntarily undertaken by the studios in order to get more people to watch it. That shit happens all the time with movies who want to increase their audience (see Die Hard 4)
MIB still could have been released in it's original form without a problem, they just would have made less money.

Camm

1 year ago

A shame, I was going to buy the special edition. Oh well, will just import a key.

JackSlack

1 year ago

Bravo to EA. This is always the correct response: Refuse to modify your game. Yes, it sucks for us, but it's the response that makes retailers furious with the government and puts pressure on them to change their policies. Nothing speaks quite so much as money, and both EA and retailers have just lost money here.

cluderi

1 year ago

Glad to see EA sticking to their guns and showing out classification system to be the joke it currently is.

Nice to see responsible adults in NZ can enjoy the game without society breaking down and the country being plunged into chaos.

GooberMan

1 year ago

Benza wrote

The key difference...

Well, the main reason that I brought it up is that you can describe it in the exact same way: A piece of entertainment was given a rating, and to get another rating in order to make more money parts would need to be voluntarily modified or cut.

It's a small logic flaw in their argument, is all. The details are quite different, but easy ammo shouldn't be given to the opposition like that.

Benza

1 year ago

I see what you're getting at but I don't agree with it being the same thing. That said on looking into it there are a whole bunch of movies that have been RC'd untill they were editied to be let into the country.
Human Centerpede 2, Pink Flamingos, A Serbian Film, Urotsukidoji and a whole bunch of others have all been censored at various times to get into the country. A bunch of them still haven't been released uncensored.

Pagan's Mind

1 year ago

I'm glad EA doesn't bow down to censorship and they shouldn't.

Gamesta

1 year ago

I hope these guys stick to their word unlike the ones who made AvP.Sure we got the game undedited but I would have like them more if they just stuck to their word.

Fyuusii

1 year ago

Gamesta wrote

I hope these guys stick to their word unlike the ones who made AvP.Sure we got the game undedited but I would have like them more if they just stuck to their word.

Umm, what?

Jaws

1 year ago

I think he is talking about Rebellion with last year's Aliens versus Predator and how Sega appealed and overturned the refusal of classification.

Benza

1 year ago

but... isn't that a good thing? They refused to censor it and just resubmiited the exact same game and it got classified? What word did they break?

Gamesta

1 year ago

Benza wrote

but... isn't that a good thing? They refused to censor it and just resubmiited the exact same game and it got classified? What word did they break?

They said that they agreed with the decision to ban the game but then resubmitted and unedited version anyway.

IIRC they said they would not appeal the ban but they did just that.

BigBoss

1 year ago

Jaws wrote

Then I'll buy from NZ

Yes, got a mate in NZ will just get him to gift it to me

Easy solved

Benza

1 year ago

Gamesta wrote

IIRC they said they would not appeal the ban but they did just that.

That's not what they said. They said they wouldn't censor it

Quote

We will not be releasing a sanitised or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices,

They agreed that it was aimed at adults. They never said they wouldn't appeal the ban though.

Fyuusii

1 year ago

^ Exactly. And I'm bloody glad they did resubmit without caving in.

renegadesx

1 year ago

I applaude EA on this move. If I owned a multinational, multi-billion-dollar gaming company I would have just boycotted Australia until the classification system was fixed.

Yes, if I owned EA I would not release Mass Effect 3 in Australia, not send it to the OFLC and openly encourage people to get around the classification system by importing... from a place where the Australian authorities cant touch me

Karai Pantsu

1 year ago

^ No, you wouldn't, because you'd be willingly shooting your own profit margin in the foot for no good reason.

rufati

1 year ago

zzyss wrote

which then goes into this whole "GST for online goods" debate

GST is already applied to online goods. And imported goods are subject to a GST if they're valued at or above 1000 AUD (or are tobacco/alcohol). Currently retailers are trying to get that threshold lowered by 50%.

Furianshi

1 year ago

We are less than 3% of the global industry market. Games intended for adults are either going to be carelessly shoe-horned into a lower classification for our region, or not released at all.

I don't care either way, I rarely buy locally because of the pricing.

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