In the wake of the recent banning of Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number in Australia, Co-creator Jonatan Söderströmm has announced that Australians should “just pirate it,” following up with “No need to send us money, just enjoy the game!”
This is just the recent development in the ongoing struggle between the Australian Classification Board and Hotline Miami studio, Devolver. Devolver is not looking to challenge the the Classification Boards ruling to ban their game, despite stating, “We are concerned and disappointed that a board of professionals tasked with evaluating and judging games fairly and honestly would stretch the facts to such a degree and issue a report that describes specific thrusting actions that are not simply present in the sequence in question and incorrectly portrays what was presented to them for review.”
Hotline Miami 2 is the most recent in a growing list of banned games in Australia. Bully, Max Payne 2, Grand Theft Auto, and Mortal Kombat, are just some of the names on the ever-growing list. As it looks, Hotline Miami 2 won’t be getting an official release.
As Söderströmm’s earlier statement shows, however, there is really no sure fire way to wholly ban games in today’s age. This leaves the question, will other indie studios take suit, and will the Classification Board take lenience in the future?
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