Despite recent attempts at fixing things, Australia’s video game classification system remains something of a joke. It’s very much a joke today, though, with news emerging that the upcoming physical copy of DayZ has been “refused classification” (effectively banning it), while the digital copy remains legally available.
As Kotaku Australia reports, the disc-based version, which was going to be distributed locally by Five Star Games, was submitted to the Australian Classification Board and knocked back, presumably on the grounds (like so many other games in Australia) that it features morphine.
Precisely, the refusal is because it was found (or at least feared) the game would “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety”.
The digital version of the game, however, which has been available on Steam for six years, remains up and available for purchase because as a previously unfinished game it was submitted and cleared under an international classification arrangement that’s nowhere near as conservative as the Classification Board.
In addition to Steam, the game is also still available as part of the Bohemia Interactive Humble Bundle, on the PlayStation Store and also Xbox Live.
Absurd.