It looks as though third time’s the lucky charm, with Saints Row IV finally attaining an MA15+ rating in Australia.
After being refused a rating by the Classification Board twice, local distributor AIE (All Interactive Entertainment) has confirmed that Saints Row IV has officially passed with an MA 15+ rating in Australia, thanks to the slight modifications put in place by publisher Deep Silver.
The modified Australian MA 15+ version of Saints Row IV will be short one optional drug-themed mission, representing roughly “20 minutes of gameplay.” The mission involves the use of “alien narcotics to obtain certain superpowers,” according to a statement from Deep Silver. It will, however, not have any impact whatsoever on the main story.
According to the board’s report, the originally submitted version of the game included an “insufficient delineation between the ‘alien narcotic’ available in the game and real-world proscribed drugs. The board notes that the label ‘narcotics’ is commonly assigned to describe a class of real-world drugs that include such proscribed substances as cocaine and heroin…this game therefore contains drug use related to incentives and rewards, and should be refused classification.”
So finally all of us Australian Saints Row fans can go to sleep at night, knowing that Saints Row IV will definitely be playable come August 23.
[GameSpot]
