Left 4 Dead 2 Refused Classification

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

As basically everybody everywhere is reporting this morning, the highly anticipated Left 4 Dead 2 has been Refused Classification in Australia – or in other words, banned.

For reference, the original Left 4 Dead only warranted an MA15+ rating. While it seems possible that L4D2 added some highly objectionable new content to warrant its Refused Classification branding, chances are that this is simply another case of woeful inconsistency from the Classification Board.

Kotaku AU is reporting that:

An EA spokesperson has told us they “are still working through the submission process with OFLC and want to explore all opportunities before making any comment.”

While this does leave open the possibility of Australians being allowed to play L4D2 in the future, realistically the game is very close to being finished, and it is likely any massive changes will either push the release date further back, or simple be skipped over in favour of getting the game out the door.

This is one of the highest profile titles to be Refused Classification in a long time. We will follow this case with interest.