Australian Classification Board Reevaluates Saint’s Row IV Next Week

Recently, Saint’s Row IV was thrown the ban-hammer in Australia. Thankfully, Saint’s Row IV will be getting another chance when the Australian Classification Board reevaluates the very mature game next Monday on July 29th.

German publisher Deep Silver and developer Volition Inc. who are making Saint’s Row IV had said that Volition is currently working on re-working the game for Australian’s classification.

Here’s the statment from Deep Silver about the refusal:

 “Deep Silver can confirm that Saints Row IV was denied an age classification in Australia. Volition, the developer, are reworking some of the code to create a version of the game for this territory by removing the content which could cause offence without reducing the outlandish gameplay that Saints Row fans know and love. Saints Row IV has been awarded PEGI 18 and ESRB M ratings where fans can enjoy their time in Steelport as originally intended.”

PlayerAttack has reported that The Australian Classification Board’s acting director, Donald McDonald, has said this about Volition Inc’s sandbox title:

“In the Board’s opinion, Saints Row IV, includes interactive, visual depictions of implied sexual violence which are not justified by context. In addition, the game includes elements of illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards. Such depictions are prohibited by the computer games guidelines.”

Under the body’s guidelines, Saint’s Row 4 is being refused classification as it, manages to, “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified.”

Unknown to the Australian Classification Board, Volition has listed a ‘low violence version’ of it’s mad sandbox on Steam Australia. Kotaku AU has reported that the ‘low violence version’ of Saint’s Row IV is only applicable to Steam Australia and pre-orders are being accepted now.

The Australian Classification Board said it had no idea the game was being sold on Steam when asked by Kotaku AU. This suggests that Saint’s Row IV has not yet passed certification. A Deep Silver rep told the site that, “Deep Silver has no further comments at this time.”

The Saint’s Row series does have its mature side, but it has mostly been allowed to release in every other country. The above gameplay video shows off some of the explicit content that’s being reviewed. The game was set for release in Australia from August 22. Hopefully, it will pass the rating inspection, and not be delayed.

Saint’s Row IV will still be released for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in North America from August 20, and in Europe on August 23.