For years, the original version of Left 4 Dead 2 was on List B of the media harmful to minors and was thus indexed in Europey and at times even confiscated. That is over from now on: The zombie shooter is no longer indexed.
When and how will games be removed from the index at all? We asked a lawyer these and other questions about indexing:
more on the subject
Finally legal: How games are removed from the index
Uncut version taken from index
Valve gave the surprising news of the de-indexing itself on Steam known. A press release states that the company has asked the USK and the Federal Testing Agency for Media Harmful to Young People (BPjM) to reassess Left 4 Dead 2.
The result: The uncut version of the shooter will be removed from the index and is now also available in Europey. Like the cut version, Left 4 Dead 2 is still only accessible to adult players.
Free Uncut DLC for buyers: If you already own the game, you can get one on Steam free uncut DLC download, which undoes the cuts of the previous version. These are largely additional splatter effects and the severing of limbs.
Just one of many games
The de-indication of Left 4 Dead 2 was already indicated in December 2019. At that time, the Federal Inspectorate overturned the confiscation orders according to §131 StGB from 2010 and 2013, such as Website cutting reports reported. However, the list has not yet been deleted.
Valve’s co-op zombie shooter is far from a novelty when it comes to dropping lists. In recent years, quite a few games that were previously indexed by the authorities have come off the index.
This includes the classic shooter from 1993 Doom. In our video we show you why the game by developer id Software was once considered harmful to young people in Europey:
14:57
Freshly Painted # 5 – The Mother of All Youth Hazards: Doom
You can find even more informative videos on games that are no longer on the index in Europey in our show Freshly painted.
