According to a report by the Korea Times, Blizzard's upcoming StarCraft sequel has been given an Adults Only rating by the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, effectively relegating the game to those 18 years old or older. Given the game's enormous popularity in the country -- and the previous "over-15" rating Blizzard received from the same board for SC2 earlier this year with an older build of the game -- the decision comes as a bit of a surprise. Apparently, the company was seeking an "over-12" in the country, and thusly resubmitted the most recent build of the game for rating. The ratings board says of the decision, "Considering that the RC version of the game is closer to what will be sold on the shelves compared to the beta versions, we looked more carefully at the content," allowing that, "this rating is not final, as Blizzard will get the chance to object to it."
For its part, Blizzard's South Korea reps told the paper that an immediate course of action has yet to be decided. "We have nothing to say at this point. We are discussing our official position on the matter as well as what would be the right reaction." We've reached out to Blizzard's US representatives and will update this post if we hear back.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Reader Comments (52)
Posted: Apr 19th 2010 4:47AM DarkGrimoire said
I think in Kores, Starcraft is looked upon as a drug.. sumthin u get addicted to.. thats why.. :D
Reply
Posted: Apr 18th 2010 7:34PM DevilSei said
All yall are missing the true part.
Queen of blades is gonna go up against the King of Tentacles, the overminds, in some hot Zerg-on-Zerg action. Acidic drool and appendages are gonna go hand in hand in this one, whooo!!
Oh, and Jim get's to watch... the whole... thing...
the whole thing...
Reply
Queen of blades is gonna go up against the King of Tentacles, the overminds, in some hot Zerg-on-Zerg action. Acidic drool and appendages are gonna go hand in hand in this one, whooo!!
Oh, and Jim get's to watch... the whole... thing...
the whole thing...
Posted: Apr 18th 2010 7:17PM (Unverified) said
Finally, part of the competiton gone, we have an ACTUAL chance to play multiplayer this time!!
Reply
Posted: Apr 18th 2010 7:18PM EngadgetSoFunny said
And the award for pointing out the obvious goes to...
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Posted: Apr 18th 2010 7:21PM Foetoid said
Been a while since i saw a wallaby actually. My ex's parents run a youth camp (which more than often has adult guests and groups anyway) near the world famous Noosa and we often see kangaroos coming out of the nearby bushland and hanging around the ovals and doorms and ropes courses. I've stood on the verandah and seen nearly a dozen of them at once a few times, tho it's usually less than that. Such a nice sight to see kangaroos in such a built-up area.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2010 7:38PM RobS the 3rd said
Wasn't there a Nerf Now! comic that said this same thing? If It was made before the news broke that is spooky accurate.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2010 7:46PM (Unverified) said
Adults only? That's nothing
South Korea will simply lower the age of legal adulthood to 12. Problem solved.
Ain't no stoppin Starcraft in that country.
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South Korea will simply lower the age of legal adulthood to 12. Problem solved.
Ain't no stoppin Starcraft in that country.
Posted: Apr 18th 2010 8:19PM BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam said
Weird, is there anything seriously objectionable in SCII? I haven't played the beta, so I don't know. Just didn't think there'd be anything in StarCraft that'd cause it to be adult-rated.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2010 8:40PM IvanP91 said
They are just trying to stop people under 18 from being seriously addicted. Being a country that "Lives and breathes SC1" it needed that rating.
Theres nothing objectionable in the content to give it AO rating. Although i totally wouldnt mind anything ;)
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Theres nothing objectionable in the content to give it AO rating. Although i totally wouldnt mind anything ;)
Posted: Apr 18th 2010 8:52PM BPMOmega XBL PSN Steam said
Any proof this is socially motivated?
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Posted: Apr 19th 2010 1:27AM RageOverdose said
Any choice regarding this is probably socially motivated. It is what they think is best for children after all.
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Posted: Apr 19th 2010 4:59AM (Unverified) said
Theres a lot of rumors abound some SC fansites that the Korean E-Sports Players Association (KeSPA) might be involved with it. They didn't want to pay Blizzard licensing fees to broadcast SC2 like they do right now for Brood War so Blizzard and them have been having a little fight over there for a while now. KeSPA has done stuff like discouraging their players from playing SC2 and downplaying it, while Blizzard has tried to counter with stuff like giving all the net cafes there beta keys so anyone can try the game out by going to one.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2010 9:13PM (Unverified) said
Hmm, I got the vibe that the older players don't wanna face kid Zerg players, akin to how FPS players have beef with campers kekekekeke.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2010 9:27PM Admiral White said
Mouse clicking is considered too violent and sexual for young people.
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Posted: Apr 18th 2010 10:02PM (Unverified) said
Wow. This is just the latest attempt to curb South Korea's gaming addiction.
Bad way to go about it though. Everyone under 18 will riot and take over the entire place.
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Bad way to go about it though. Everyone under 18 will riot and take over the entire place.
Posted: Apr 19th 2010 1:31AM RageOverdose said
There's usually some young pro-gamers (meaning, under 18) so I wonder how this will affect SC2's growth with e-Sports. Maybe they'll just have to have a parental (or other) form signed to waive the legal issues with the age restriction. Or they'll just not care.
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Posted: Apr 19th 2010 6:16AM (Unverified) said
There is an embarassing lack of context with this story.
Adults only (18 and over) is the equivalent of an M here. Starcraft 2 may have gotten the 18+ rating, but so did Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, God of War, Fallout 3, Dragon Age, Dead Space, Modern Warfare 2, Bioshock and Assasin's creed 2 and that's just from my PS3 collection.
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Adults only (18 and over) is the equivalent of an M here. Starcraft 2 may have gotten the 18+ rating, but so did Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, God of War, Fallout 3, Dragon Age, Dead Space, Modern Warfare 2, Bioshock and Assasin's creed 2 and that's just from my PS3 collection.
Posted: Apr 19th 2010 9:31AM Daverator said
The problem is, of the games you mentioned.
God of War, Fallout 3, Dragon Age and Modern Warfare I played, and they all deserved a M rating. The others I cannot speak directly of.
If I had to guess, at least to valid reasons for the M rating.
1. Stimpacks - This can be easily considered a drug reference, I don't know about Korea, but in the US drugs have a much harsher effect on ratings than say 12 years ago.(as an aside fallout 3 actually had to rename a real life drug to an imaginary one in order to avoid AO rating)
2. Graphics - Starcraft was gory, theres no question, when marines die they explode in a little pile of gore and blood, same with zerg, but they people doing the exploding are basically little ants, SC2 allows you to zoom in closer to the action.
3. Story - I am in the beta, but its 100% multiplayer, we have as of yet no idea what the single player storyline contains. Considering that the most of the marines are multiple convicted felons, chances are that a lot of them do not share the nobility of Jim Raynor, and if the story takes a more personal approach, there is plenty of occasion for crude language, and any other things that might make a content rater squeamish.
As for correcting it, well Stimpacks can be renamed medpacks, or even Rage if they want to lol. Blood can be removed for localization. And likewise the local translation of plot can undergo censorship.
Reply
God of War, Fallout 3, Dragon Age and Modern Warfare I played, and they all deserved a M rating. The others I cannot speak directly of.
If I had to guess, at least to valid reasons for the M rating.
1. Stimpacks - This can be easily considered a drug reference, I don't know about Korea, but in the US drugs have a much harsher effect on ratings than say 12 years ago.(as an aside fallout 3 actually had to rename a real life drug to an imaginary one in order to avoid AO rating)
2. Graphics - Starcraft was gory, theres no question, when marines die they explode in a little pile of gore and blood, same with zerg, but they people doing the exploding are basically little ants, SC2 allows you to zoom in closer to the action.
3. Story - I am in the beta, but its 100% multiplayer, we have as of yet no idea what the single player storyline contains. Considering that the most of the marines are multiple convicted felons, chances are that a lot of them do not share the nobility of Jim Raynor, and if the story takes a more personal approach, there is plenty of occasion for crude language, and any other things that might make a content rater squeamish.
As for correcting it, well Stimpacks can be renamed medpacks, or even Rage if they want to lol. Blood can be removed for localization. And likewise the local translation of plot can undergo censorship.
Posted: Apr 19th 2010 9:33AM Cap Morgan said
So South Korea wants to see how quickly their population can crack Blizzards DRM?
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