5 popular games that are banned in different countries. One thing will definitely surprise you

When was the last time you heard about a complete ban on the sale of games in different countries? Personally, it’s been a long time since we were talking about the banning of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009.

The mission “Not a Word in Russian” caused public outcry, which proposed… Yes, you remember even without me that. In our country, the game tried to ban the King, but they limited themselves to censorship and the removal of a bad episode.

And in the Japanese version of the same “battle,” when a shot was fired into the air, the game ended with the light of death. This is a kind of protest against the bold ideas of the developers.

What am I getting at anyway: let’s look today at games that are truly completely banned in different countries. Let’s look at the reasons and think that it’s generally right to do this.

1. Company of Heroes 2

🌍 Where prohibited: Russia

And since I approved our country’s entry, let’s start with it. Do you even remember anything from the Company of Heroes series? I personally am only annoyed by the first trailer, because for the hundredth time they showed me a twist about the war, which I was tired of as a schoolboy.

And then a sequel was released, which, it would seem, no one should give a damn either… But there is one curious nuance to blame.

The developers from Relic actually decided to use a game about the feat of a Soviet soldier (That’s what the game’s marketing said before its release.) to make not just cranberries, but straight chernukha, covered with arguments that, they say, “everything was like that.”

According to the plot, the main characters betray their own, kill innocents, burn down the village among the townspeople inside, show cowardice and much more. The whole story is full of conjectures and premeditation of the screenwriter, which is unacceptable for, excuse me, a work with a claim to historical accuracy. Nobody pulled the trigger on Relic; they themselves insisted on this in their promotional materials.

All this led to the fact that the publisher 1C-SoftClub decided to withdraw the game for sale in our country.

2. BATTLEFIELD 4

🌍 Where prohibited: China

In general, many things are prohibited in China, but there are a couple of interesting cases. The first one is related to the last old part of the Battlefield series.

It is worth clarifying that this is a serious matter: after the game was released in 2013, the Chinese Ministry of Culture officially banned it as what national security. The Chinese press was required to remove all publications and news related to the game within 24 hours from the start of the ban.

What’s the matter, you ask? First of all, in the plot and multiplayer features. The fact is that the developers from DICE decided to write a scenario for a large-scale war between the United States and suddenly not Russia, but China, with the latter being exposed as terrorists.

Chinese troops in the game are cruel, do not spare cruelty and generally reveal bastards. At the same time, in the game itself, no one managed to prove the obvious disclaimer that all events are fictitious and any similarity is nothing more than a coincidence.

Of course, BATTLEFIELD 4 did not fail in sales even without the Chinese market, but the situation became another sign for the industry – China is not a joke, especially if you love money.

2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons

🌍 Where prohibited: China

Why can this cute game be banned, which made the whole world famous in 2020 and helped many survive isolation? There’s nothing like that there – run away, make friends with the animals, collect turnips, have a beautiful house, and don’t forget to visit your friends on the islands…

…to organize anti-government rallies there and harm the authorities of their country. The fact is that in Animal Crossing, in addition to a rather interesting cooperative mode, it is possible to create your own drawings, flags, clothing designs, and so on.

It was these tools that a certain Joshua Wong used. He gathered several friends on his virtual island, wrote several illegal slogans on the ground and peppered it all with portraits of officials, on whom he began to jump (He did all this in a computer game, just in case I remind you) while his teammates stood and clapped.

Screenshots of Wong’s performance were posted on Twitter, and in the very near future the authorities demanded that the game be immediately removed from sale, access to the servers closed, and the joker shown. At least the first two requirements have been met and are still observed.

3. Special Operations: Line

🌍 Where prohibited: UAE

Spec Ops: The Line is a surprise game. In the commercials we promised a driving and fun action with innovative sand physics and destruction. And we got goosebump-chilling horror about war and what it does to ordinary people.

Basically, because of white phosphorus and the environment, game developers might call some kind of committee on this.

But the strictest ban from where it came was not expected. Dubai authorities were openly offended by the way the city was presented in the game. Desolation, devastation and people hanging on poles – all this was not very highly appreciated by the National Medical Consulate of the United Arab Emirates, and it was decided to ban the sale in the country.

And this year, unfortunately, the project was withdrawn from sales all over the world, which led to such nuances and legal subtleties related to the music in the game. Nobody wants to renew the liquidation licenses for a failed (in terms of profit) shooter. Unfortunately, we will never see a continuation of Spec Ops: The Line; the series is officially dead.

4. Manhunt duology

🌍 Where it is prohibited: Almost all European countries, South Korea, New Zealand.

Strictly speaking, in this section we could talk about all the activities of Rockstar at the beginning of the 21st century, telling how the Houser brothers openly infuriated various ethics commissions and politicians from TV. But such worthy attention, so here I am talking about only the culmination of the struggle of the creators of GTA against moral defenders.

Sam Houser is one of the most important people at Rockstar and has an interesting personality. At one time, he did not hesitate to openly send critics of the GTA series to hell (and with selective obscenities), openly make caustic jokes about competitors in the genre (the Driver series was constantly ridiculed in different parts of GTA), and he openly hated all defenders of children from bad video games.

In the early 2000s, the gaming market was rocked by GTA 3 and its Vice City expansion. Gamers were delighted, politicians were furious, because the game encouraged desire and cruelty and glorified banditry. Rockstar and the Houser brothers in particular have been accused of creating virtual aids for aspiring criminals.

As strange as it may sound now, it was the chain of scandals associated with GTA that became the reason for the creation of Manhunt – an extremely violent game for its age, which can be classified as a maniac simulator. And its 2007 sequel raised the bar even higher. Both projects truly (unlike GTA) encourage sophisticated murders and brutal cruelty; there is no other way to play them.

The Manhunt duology was a demonstration that games really can be cruel. Sam Houser did this on purpose to show the world what the line is between a game and a snuff video. Both parts are prohibited in many countries, including ours. The passion for this game allows various mass murderers and castles as well. However, it is worth remembering that Manhunt is just a video game with such gameplay, by the way.

5. Trembling Murder

🌍 Where prohibited: Worldwide

Speaking of the dead. Have you heard anything about the game, which in translation (approximately) in Russian is called “Ghastly Murder”? I’m sure some even played in it. Although this game is prohibited absolutely everywhere.

The game was developed by Midway Studios Los Angeles, you may remember it from the game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks for PS2 and the X-Men fighting games on PS1. Actually, Thrill Kill was developed in the fighting game genre for the first PlayStation and was supposed to be released in 1998.

Only the publisher, when he saw the final version of the game, canceled the release and recalled all copies sent to stores. True, someone managed to copy the disk and post it on the Internet, thanks to which we can play this “masterpiece.”

Thrill Kill’s reason for coming back is both simple and complicated. On the surface lies the fact that for its time it was an extremely cruel fighting game, where enemies had no health bar, victory was achieved exclusively through torture and dismemberment (in the game the mechanics were called “killing for pleasure”), but if you dig deeper, you can find some corporate intrigue.

The game was originally offered by Virgin Entertainment, who were naturally well aware of the content, and even had the idea of ​​sending out copies of the games to various ethics commissions with a “Check out what a hit we made!” card. But in 1998, the publisher was bought out by the world-famous Electronic Arts, which, without warning the developers, replaced the game.

“There is no Thrill Kill,” announced the caller, who learned from articles on the Internet. The reasons for the game’s demise have not been officially announced, but as a result, a vocal opponent of the army in video games and then-good friend EA executive Senator Joe Lieberman was implicated. There were rumors that the cancellation took place in his personal office.

Which game would you personally ban?

And this is where I propose to stop, because Iceberg actually banned games even more deeply. In the material, I first began to capture my games, which were officially released, but were in turn banned in some countries.

In their projects, developers sometimes really go too far with plot twists or gameplay. On the one hand, this helps the game stand out and influence the rumors in the gaming community, but on the other hand, it risks becoming a banned product that can only be found out from articles like this.

Without links to purchase, of course.

After this, I want to ask the readers a question: how do you feel about game bans? And if you could, what game would you, without hesitation, ban forever?