We always hear a lot about how difficult it is to publish games in China or the games that are banned there despite being one of the most important markets for this industry. There is another country with a large ‘gamer’ community that is seeing more and more works stay outside its borders, at least legally. Saudi Arabia is in the eye of the media for having banned one of the most anticipated games of the year: Final Fantasy XVI
The Public Media Authority of Saudi Arabia —the government organization in charge of classifying the works that enter that country— announced that «Final Fantasy XVI will not be published in the Kingdom due to the unwillingness of its publishers to make the required modifications.”.
The statement, which was published by the agency’s official Twitter account, does not specify what modifications were requested from Square Enix. It is worth mentioning that, unlike other games in the franchise, FFXVI received an ESRB rating ‘M’ (recommended for ages 17+) instead of the traditional ‘T’ (for ages 13+). This was due to “scenes with sexual content, violence and drug use.” In fact, we know that it has references to prostitution and mutilations
The Public Media Authority of Saudi Arabia has banned other big titles like God of War y The Last of Us Part IIso Final Fantasy XVI You are not alone in this treatment. Players in the region are also used to resorting to the import market and piracy to enjoy games like these.
This news comes just as Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in the video game industry. The country’s royal family owns the majority of SNK’s shares.
FFXVI It will be released on June 22, 2023. It will be exclusive to PS5 temporarily.
