We Happy Few has been reclassified R18+ in Australia after a review, the Australian Classification Board (ACB) today confirmed.
The ACB announced in late June that it would reassess its original decision, calling on submissions from gamers to help in the cause.
Today, a three-person panel unanimously decided the game should be classified R18+ in the wake of an original decision back in May that determined it should be refused classification.
“In the Board’s opinion, the game’s drug-use mechanism of making game progression less difficult, constituted an incentive or reward for drug-use,” a statement on the ACB’s website reads. “Therefore, the game exceeded the R18+ classification because of the drug use related to incentives and rewards.
“The Games Guidelines state that computer games that exceed the R18+ classification category will be Refused Classification. If the Games Guidelines did not contain this restriction in its current form, then We Happy Few would have received an MA 15+ classification.”
We Happy Few is planned for release on Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4. It’s by Compulsion Games, a studio recently acquired by Microsoft Game Studios.
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