Germany’s Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien) have removed the now 10-year-old Red Faction from their ‘index’. “At THQ Nordic we were aware of the implications of this momentous decision, and needed to adopt a bold approach.” says Jans Binsmaier, Publishing Director of the Viennese studio.
The Vienna-based team will still be having further discussions with the BPjM: “We will of course still be nurturing our extensive games portfolio that now comprises over 350 titles, and will do our utmost to ensure that gamers can play our games in the future.” says Jan Binsmaier.
Something that is rarely mentioned in games media is the fact that Germany has been censoring for over a decade when it comes to video game entertainment. Red Faction was listed due to the EDF being very similar to that of the Nazi Party. The German board can and have often refused to put certain video games on sale until some of the content that is deemed ‘unsafe’ is removed or changed.
Bethesda know all too well the problems getting their products onto the German market especially with their Wolfenstein series which at its core is a game about killing lots of Nazi’s. In fact, the latest Wolfenstein game is censored in Germany in such a way that Bethesda had to ensure there were no direct references to Hitler or his Nazi Party.
