Dead Island Gets German Ban
Noone is really surprised by this news, and neither is developer Techland, but Dead Island has been banned in Germany.
“This isn’t unexpected,” the developer told Eurogamer. “Germany has its unique regulations regarding video games and violence and the industry can only comply.
“Both Deep Silver and Techland were aware of such a possibility from the very beginning.”
Dead Island has been certified as “List B” by Germany’s Federal Department of Media Harmful to Young Persons (the BPJM). “List B” is usually reserved for media depicting extreme torture or Nazi content, and any media on “List B” cannot be sold or imported into Germany as doing so is punishable by law.
There was no explanation as to why the game was banned, but we can only assume it due to the graphic violence.
The German law was apparently averted by publisher Koch Media by distributing the game in Austria.
“We did not distribute or sell Dead Island in Germany”, Koch Media told GamesIndustry.biz Germany. “The intention was to bring the game to the international markets, as the product seems to be better suitable for audiences abroad.”
The ‘Bloodbath arena’ DLC was finally released earlier this month after several delays and a patch for the console version introduced new gameplay and interface improvements.
