The Australian Classifications Board has denied giving We Happy Few a rating in Australia

An integral element to the games concept was found to be in breach of Australian Media Law

The game will likely never be sold in Australia

Well, that sucks.

Another Game has been refused sale in Australia, after the Australian Classifications Board made an announcement Two Days Ago.

We Happy Few was found to be in breach of Australian Media Law – so beyond hysterical comparisons between The Department of Communications and the Arts and Ray Bradbury’s 1984, we can kind of understand the movement.

The statement from the classifications website reads that an element represented in the game is not up to scratch with media law: ‘”as computer games that “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified.”‘

For you legal nerds, the section We Happy Few was found in breach of was National Classification Code, Computer Games Table, 1. (a).

That’s kind of ironic, right? A game about an Orwellian alternate timeline getting censored in a country?

Well, the developers of We Happy Few, Compulsion Games, released a statement on the news – To our Australian fans, we share your frustration. We will work with the ACB on the classification. If the government maintains its stance, we will make sure that you can get a refund, and we will work directly with affected Kickstarter backers to figure something out. We would appreciate if you give us a little bit of time to appeal the decision before making a call”

It’s always a shame to see games getting censored in Australia, but on the other hand, it kind of makes sense to uphold legislation about putting positive spins on drug use.

Whatever direction the story turns, we’re rooting for you Compulsion Games, we love a good horror game.