Last Updated on May 13, 2023 12:15 PM by Anayatullah
Speculations Rise on Possible Same-Sex Couple Controversy
Final Fantasy XVI won’t be available for PlayStation 5 owners residing in Saudi Arabia come June 22 because Square Enix’s highly anticipated action-RPG has been banned there for some currently vague reasons.
Last December, Brazil’s ESRB-equivalent rating for FFXVI revealed that the upcoming Game of Thrones-esque action-RPG is rated mature for its sex scenes, drug use, torture scenes, and depictions of prostitution and hate crimes.
That last one has me trying to figure out who’s getting hate crime’d in ye olde Final Fantasy and how bad is it gonna get to warrant a mature rating? (It’s not Black people—we’re not in the game, as Producer Naoki Yoshida has awkwardly tried to explain.)
Are we talking about a brutal Moogle uprising? (Please tell me that the Viera are involved somehow.) I’ve gotta know, SquareE. Whatever the case, it now seems Saudi Arabia’s found something to object to as well.
According to an official statement by the kingdom’s Public Authority for Media (translated on ResetEra), FFXVI will not be released in Saudi Arabia “due to the publisher’s unwillingness to make the necessary modifications” to the game.
Although the post never specified exactly what modifications Square Enix refused to make, folks on the gaming forum speculate that it might have something to do with a same-sex couple in the game.
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Anayatullah is a gaming writer and enthusiast with 20 years of experience. He brings personal insights to his writing, making him a valuable resource for fellow gamers. His articles aim to provide entertaining and informative details about the games we all love.
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