Different countries, different regulations for video games. Saudi Arabia, for example, seems to have particularly strict rules. At le ast that suggests a ban on sale of Final Fantasy XVI, because Square Enix refuses to make the required changes.
The older semesters still remember the times when games were sometimes only heavily edited on the market. Otherwise, in Germany there was a threat of indexing, if not a complete ban on sale. In the meantime, the rules have been relaxed significantly, but Final Fantasy XVI would probably have been on the German market one way or another without any problems.
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In Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, things are a little different. As can be seen from a tweet from the local media authority, the role-playing game will be banned there. The reason? Developer Square Enix refuses to “make the necessary changes”. Of course, it would be interesting to know exactly what that means.
The classification from Brazil could provide an approximate indication of this. Final Fantasy XVI may only be purchased there by persons over the age of 16. Because it contains nudity, prostitution, drug use, suicide, torture, gratuitous violence and the display of LGBTQIA content. This is probably also the reason for the ban in Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this week, the general supervisor of the Saudi Arabian body, Hattan Tawili, teased via Twitter that “one of the most important and biggest games of the year” would probably be banned. He did mention a name, but not the reason “because the company completely refuses to adapt the content to the region”. So it should very definitely mean Final Fantasy XVI.
In Germany, Final Fantasy XVI will be released on June 22, 2023, exclusively on the PlayStation 5. There is a lot of speculation about a PC release, but Square Enix has not really confirmed anything yet.
Last night, Final Fantasy XVI was featured in detail for 25 minutes in a special edition of PlayStation State of Play.
