DayZ Removes Cannabis Items, Gets Unbanned In Australia

Earlier this month, Kotaku Australia reported that DayZ was refused classification in Australia due to “illicit or proscribed drug use related to incentives or rewards.” This prohibited the game’s physical release in the Oceanian country and resulted in its removal from Steam, the PlayStation Store, and Xbox Live.

The five-year-old zombie survival game was going to feature a cannabis joint that restored health, though implementation of the medicinal restorative had yet to be completed. In response to the ban, developer Bohemia Interactive chose to edit the game on a global scale to avoid splitting the player base, and it appears to have worked.

Kotaku Australia reports that the Australian Classification Board has recently updated its website, noting that DayZ is now rated MA15+. The application confirms that this version of the game has been modified, meaning a cannabis-less version was reviewed and approved by the board. The new rating should clear the way for DayZ to be restored on all digital platforms, and Bohemia will have the go-ahead to release a physical version in Australia now that the ban has been lifted.

This isn’t the first time a game has been refused sale in Australia. The government’s antiquated guidelines have previously resulted in games like Fallout 3 and Mortal Kombat 9 being completely banned from sale until the offending content was edited out–or in the case of We Happy Few, taken to a review panel. Even in the past few days, Hotline Miami 2 was made available in Australia for the first time ever following its Switch release. But even that might not last.

from GameSpot – Game News https://www.gamespot.com/articles/dayz-removes-cannabis-items-gets-unbanned-in-austr/1100-6469309/