‘Schedule 1’ Developer Responds After Drug-Dealing Sim is “Banned” Temporarily in Australia

Schedule 1 gamers had been in for a shock when the sport mysteriously disappeared from the Australian variations of Steam. This led many to take a position that the sport had been banned by the nation’s authorities as a result of its content material. Nevertheless, Schedule 1 developer TVGS has now responded and offered the rationale for the sport’s non permanent suspension.

‘Schedule 1’ Briefly Unavailable in Australia

The Schedule 1 “ban” was first found on a Reddit thread created on Might 12. Customers seen that the sport was now not showing on the Australian model of Steam. Followers verified the sport’s removing through the use of VPNs and confirming that it was nonetheless accessible in each different nation. Nevertheless, it seems that the drug-dealing sim just isn’t really banned. It’s as an alternative below a short lived suspension as a result of classification points.

Schedule 1 developer Tyler (TVGS) made a post within the thread and defined that the sport would return to Australian shops. “It turns out all games in Australia have to receive a classification before they can be sold. I was under the impression this was only the case for console or physical releases. It seems like this rule is pretty inconsistently enforced because there’s a ton of unclassified games being sold in Australia.”

The developer additionally clarified that he’s hoping the state of affairs will probably be resolved in a number of days. “We’re getting the classification process underway today and will hopefully get this resolved in the next couple of days. Sorry for the inconvenience, everyone! tl;dr Not banned — just awaiting classification.” So there it’s: Schedule 1 just isn’t technically banned, however has solely been briefly pulled from shops whereas it awaits classification.

Australia Has a Historical past of Banning Video games

It’s not stunning that followers of Schedule 1 initially assumed it had been banned, given Australia’s historical past. In any case, the nation’s authorities has cracked down on drug use in video games prior to now—and Schedule 1 is actually a glorified Breaking Unhealthy simulator, so there’s that.

Video games resembling Hotline Miami 2: Mistaken Quantity and Manhunt are additionally examples of titles that had been faraway from shops as a result of drug-related and violent content material. Regardless of Schedule 1’s heavy concentrate on drug-dealing, developer TVGS appears pretty assured the sport will probably be again quickly. Primarily based on his response, it’s merely a classification problem that may take a number of days to resolve.

Nonetheless, when you dwell in Australia and had been hoping to leap into Schedule 1 this week, you’ll have to attend a short time longer. When you’ve already bought a duplicate, the non permanent suspension gained’t have an effect on you—the sport nonetheless boots up and is playable on Steam. The Schedule 1 removing is just for new purchases.