Borderlands Censored for Australian Market?

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

The Left 4 Dead 2 saga appears to have left the Australian gaming community somewhat spooked. Speculation is now mounting as to whether Gearbox Software’s upcoming FPS/RPG hybrid Borderlands has been modified for the Australian market. While hard evidence that this is the case is rather thin on the ground, the controversy does raise a number of issues in relation to Australia’s antiquated classification system.

The initial rumours of censorship stemmed from some peculiarities on the Borderlands page on digital PC game store Steam. While Australian customers could view the page, the ‘Buy’ button was, for a time, noticeably absent. This problem was remedied a couple of weeks later, but those viewing the page from Australian IP addresses noticed that the game was now listed as Borderlands Australia. The only other country known to have a region-specific version of Borderlands listed on the Steam store is Germany. Anyone who has followed the issue of video game censorship will be aware that Germany’s low tolerance for video game violence has seen numerous games (including Borderlands) modified for that country’s market. So perhaps Australian Borderlands fans in Australia do have something to worry about.

At this stage most forum users are willing to be optimistic. After all, Borderlands received an MA15+ rating back in August, and there has been no official word that anything untoward has occurred. But who’s to say a modified version of the game was not submitted for initial classification (as was the case with console versions of GTA IV) in order to avoid the very problems that have plagued Left 4 Dead 2? And what’s in it for the game’s publisher, 2K Games, in letting Australians know that they’re getting a modified version of Borderlands? Surely releasing this information will only drive consumers to either import the game– upsetting the publisher’s local retail partners– or to find a pirate copy of an overseas version.

Optimists have also taken solace in the visual style of Borderlands. The cel-shaded look of the game is far less realistic than that of Left 4 Dead 2, a game which is scarcely life-like to begin with. But looking overseas, the American ESRB rating summary for Borderlands gives some cause for concern. The following is their description of the violence in the game:

The combat is frenetic, and enemies moan or scream when they are hit. Damage from weapons also results in large spurts of blood, dismemberment, and decapitation. When a human or creature is decapitated, an effect resembling a fountain of blood will shoot from the neck for a few seconds and stop. Some weapons cause enemies to split in half, the top being separated from the waist.

Sound familiar? Remind you of a certain other game of post-apocalyptic survival?

All this speculation is probably just a storm in a teacup. It has been suggested that the quirks of the Steam page are simply the result of solving some glitch or other with the store’s listing of Borderlands. Elsewhere, there are claims that the Borderlands developers themselves told visitors to Perth’s GO3 Electronic and Entertainment Expo that nothing has been censored. All this sounds entirely plausible, but the lack off an official statement still leaves lingering doubt. And these seeds of doubt in gamers’ minds will only grow and prosper until an R18+ rating for games in Australia becomes a reality. For every game that is refused classification, publishers will be increasingly likely to modify their games in order to ensure smooth passage through the classification system. In turn, gamers will become less certain that they are getting the genuine article and become less and less willing to part with their money. This can only serve to harm the Australian video game industry at all levels.

Huge thanks to Sam Whitton for writing this submission! If you’ve got something to say, email me.