The open world zombie apocalypse action RPG Dead Island has been banned in Germany according to publisher Techland. The game has been available since September 9th in Europe so it comes as a bit of a surprise that it took so long for the German ratings board to declare Dead Island unfit for sale.
German officials haven’t given a specific reason why the title was banned, all they have said is that the game has been placed on “List B” which is reserved for titles that feature excessive torture or Nazi propaganda. That sounds a little harsh given the fact that your enemies are the undead! Perhaps Deep Silver and publisher Techland could have taken the “Left for Dead 2” approach and scaled back the violence for the international market.
Techland spoke to Eurogamer regarding the ban:
This isn’t unexpected. Germany has its unique regulations regarding video games and violence and the industry can only comply. Both Deep Silver and Techland were aware of such a possibility from the very beginning.
The news comes after Iran banned Battlefield 3 yesterday.
