The gigantic, purple sex toys in Saints Row IV are causing quite a stir over in Australia these days. Koch Media has repeatedly asked the Australian Classification board to approve the title for aussie distribution, but the government has thrown up several roadblocks. The original version of Saints Row IV did not meet the R18+ guidelines for mature game classification by the ACB thanks to an alien anal probe weapon and several allusions to drugs. As a result, Volition made a new Australian Edition of the game with many of the more questionable weapons, items, and missions edited out. The game was recently shown at PAX Aus.
However, even though these changes were made specifically for the Australian market, Koch Media has attempted to get the original version reviewed once more. This is not without precedent as Aliens vs. Predator, upon second review, had its “denied classification” rating downgraded to MA15+. State of Decay was also downgraded to an R18+ rating after removing allusions to drugs as rewards for certain missions. Unfortunately, Saints Row IV was not that lucky, as the ACB’s decision was once again to leave the original version of the game unclassified.
So perhaps it wasn’t the giant dildo swords that mattered in the first place. Maybe Australia simply doesn’t feel comfortable portraying drugs in a positive light. Either way, Australian gamers will have to make due with a censored version of Saints Row IV instead.
Source: IGN