Ubisoft have made the decision to censor PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of PEGI 18 rated comedy RPG game, South Park: The Stick of Truth, in the Africa, the Middle East and in Europe. Similar changes have happened to Australia also. The PC version of the game remains unaffected by these changes.
The seven scenes in question, amount to approximately 20 seconds each, will be replaced with on screen text describing the censored action with an image background selected by the creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. BT.com have reported that the following scenes are:
- A mini-game in which the doctor is performing an abortion on the player.
- A mini-game in which the player is performing an abortion on the character Randy.
- Five anal probing scenes involving someone actively being probed. The scenes play out as normal before and after the active probing sequences.
Eurogamer have tried to probe Ubisoft for reasons behind their actions, which a Ubisoft spokesperson responded with “this was a market decision”. It is speculated that this decision maybe due to the stricter video game guidelines in Germany and Ubisoft’s hopes to secure a release within Germany. As Germany has their own independent rating organisation called USK, which works similar to the European PEGI which also covers UK released video games.
This may affect the game sales within the UK and may even take away that special element of why South Park is loved so much.
So this question goes out to the gaming community – Do you think this censorship is ridiculous or completely necessary? Would love to hear your thoughts and views on this.
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