Developer: Rockstar North
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Release Date: 29 April 2008

See the Classification Board entry.

Grand Theft Auto IV was one of the most hotly-anticipated titles for 2008, subject to one of the most intensive and expensive marketing campaigns for any video game to date. Before its release, Rockstar Games announced that they would be censoring the game voluntarily to make sure it would meet an MA15+ rating, the highest available to video games in Australia. Though Rockstar would not officially announce what changes had been made, investigation by the gaming community revealed three key differences in the edited Australian version of the game.

1. The player is unable to view the simulated sexual intercourse with prostitutes in the game, nor to choose what type of sex act is performed. Instead, the camera is locked behind the vehicle during the encounter, showing a rocking vehicle animation and accompanying soundtrack.
2. Blood no longer pools under killed characters, nor can the player leave bloody footprints by walking through blood pools, or bloody tyre tracks by driving through them. Blood continues to splatter like normal.
3. Visual representations of injuries to the player or other characters were made lower impact, replacing graphic bullet wounds and blood patches with slight discolouration.

According to current Classification Board standards, these changes were enough to warrant the game the highest possible rating of MA15+. Grand Theft Auto IV remains an incredibly high-impact game, centered around a free-roaming city in which the player is free to pursue his goals by any means necessary, including murder, blackmail, extortion and bribery. In the open environment, players are exposed to a number of high-impact adult themes like gambling, prostitution, drugs and gang violence.

It is interesting to note that in December 2008, the Classification Board rated an uncensored PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV also as MA15+, without any of the above-mentioned changes. The PC version was identical to the international version and included all the objectionable content that the Rockstar had removed from the console version, and yet it too was rated MA15+. Though the censored version was made voluntarily and not at the behest of the Classification Board, the uncensored version is identical to a game that every other country in the world considers to be suitable for adults aged 18+ only, and yet was rated MA15+ here in Australia.

If Grand Theft Auto IV were a movie, it would have been rated R18+ and kept out of the hands of children. In other countries such as New Zealand, Britain and across Europe it is impossible for children to purchase this game. However under Australian law, there is nothing to prevent children aged 15 and up – or lower, with their parents consent – from purchasing this game and playing it, simply because our ratings system does not have the capability to keep high-impact games like this out of their hands.

Parents need to be informed about the high-impact content that games like Grand Theft Auto IV expose the players to. Currently, our ratings system has no way of protecting children from being exposed to games like this, and that needs to change.