The age rating process in that country is very severe, but it does not mean that the die is cast.
The Medium is one of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S exclusives on console, a psychological horror title that will also be released on PC and that is developed by Bloober Team, the creators of Layers of Fear, Observer and Blair Witch, among others. . Although the title will come out without major problems in the European market, the study has encountered the barrier of Australia. The body in charge of classifying games by age has rejected the classification. Unless this decision is reversed, the video game will not be released in this country.
But is everything decided? The answer is negative. Kotaku recalls that Crusader Kings 3 found itself in a similar situation, but Australian gamers were able to enjoy it thanks to Xbox Game Pass anyway. Less lucky was DayZ when he tried to introduce cannabis into the game, as the result was its removal from Steam before it was even updated worldwide. Katana Zero was banned only at the beginning, while The Witcher 2 was modified to suit the demands of the institution.
Image: Classification Board
Several options
According to the information Kotaku manages, the request for classification has not passed directly through the hands of the agency, but was registered through the IARC online tool, which despite retaining the same legitimacy, errors have often been reported when registering applications. It is not confirmed that this is the case with Bloober Team, but the history dictates that it has been relatively frequent in the past.
Violent games like Cyberpunk 2077, which will also not lack sex, have achieved the +18 rating. Bloober Team games, meanwhile, tend to touch more psychological issues and not so much gore and sex, so it will be necessary to see if they have to modify any of their aspects to pass the classification.
The Medium, which will be released on December 10, will also be available on Xbox Game Pass.
