Australian gamers have been quite annoyed about Halloween: The Game being banned this week, with this happening time and time again over the last 10-20 years, and we can now reveal more information about exactly why the decision was made and when it happened.
The Director of the Australian Classification Board, Steven Thomson personally responded to a concerned gamer, going into more detail about exactly why the game was banned and when it happened.
In a letter cited by Press Start, the game was officially refused classification on July 22nd (weeks before Illfonic tweeted about it), and this was due to the fact that the game contains “illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards”.
Going into more detail, Thomson said: The Board observed gameplay footage in which the player takes on the role of the masked Michael Myers to kill as many victims as possible, or plays as a civilian trying to survive until the match timer ends. The footage includes the player’s use of marijuana to provide a gameplay advantage by granting an ability that may assist in surviving the match. The drug use is therefore linked to an incentive or reward. The Board also considered that the substance is unambiguously depicted as an illicit drug. The item is expressly identified as a “joint” through on-screen text and is accompanied by a clear visual icon depicting a marijuana cigarette.”
So it does seem going off this, that if the substance used in game, wasn’t tied to a real world one, that it probably would have been okay, and even though the game is now able to be sold in New Zealand, it’s unclear if Illfonic plans to edit this to resubmit it to get it available for sale here in Australia.