The fear is that zombie apocalypses speak to kids so much that obviously they’ll imitate everything they see, especially popping pills. The team are looking at renaming certain drugs.
Back in the day of Fallout 3, the ACB refused to rate the Bethesda RPG because of its depiction of drug use, which they toned down and eventually got it a MA15+ sticker.
”I have bad news to share: State of Decay has been refused classification by the Australian Classification Board (ACB). We’ve run afoul of certain prohibitions regarding the depiction of drug use. We’re working with Microsoft to come up with options, including changing names of certain medications in the game to comply with ratings requirements. Whatever our path forward, it’s going to take a bit,” Undead Jeff posted on the official Undead Labs forums.
”I know this is frustrating — believe me, we’re frustrated too — but each country has the right to set its own rules about content, and it’s our responsibility to comply with them. Rest assured we’ll do everything we can to find a way to get the game into your hands. Stay tuned.”
The ACB has also refused to classify Volition’s Saints Row IV for its ‘unjustifiable context’ of sexual violence, and its environment of ‘incentivising’ drug use. Australia’s youth are powerless against the peer pressure of video games.
State of Decay has smashed sales records on Xbox Live Arcade and right now Undead Labs is working to bring a sandbox mode to the zombie survival simulator, as well as a PC version to Steam.
