Hey, did you UK readers see Ubisoft’s trailer for We Dare? Did it perk your interest? Would you like to play it?
Well too bad! Ubisoft has decided not to release the game in the United Kingdom.
"Following the public reaction to the 12+ rating of We Dare, Ubisoft has made the decision not to sell the game in the United Kingdom."
We haven't seen reports of rioting in the streets. As far as we’re aware, that "public reaction" doesn’t consist of much more than Keith Vaz and a few parents, going on nothing more than the trailer, opining that the game none of them had played was inappropriate for children as young as 12. One parent, speaking to the Daily Mail, went so far as to say "this sort of computer game will only serve to fuel sexual tensions and, in a worse-case scenario, sexual touching or assault."
PEGI, the body that stamped the game with a 12 rating, continues to stand by its decision, telling IGN:
"Conclusions by press and commenters have been based exclusively on the online commercial, whereas the conclusions of PEGI were based on the game experience. It was correct to give the game a 12 rating. The content of the game and the interaction that the game itself implies do not warrant a higher rating. Marketing may have implied something else, but PEGI does not rate advertising, it rates game content."
America and the UK are out but the game will be sold in other parts of Europe. For now.
Via: The Telegraph
Thanks to beemoh for the heads up.
[Disclosure: I freelance for IGN.]
-Reporting from San Diego, GamePolitics Contributing Editor Andrew Eisen
Comments
Re: Ubisoft Doesn't Dare Release We Dare in the UK Either
Recently it seems that it has been the publishers who have been blocking the content. Normally this controversy is what publishers crave (just look at EA's shameless tactics with Dante's Inferno) because it's free promotion and sales will increase. But Ubisoft, like EA with Medal of Honor, are self censoring.
I blame none of the newspapers or media for this, as this sort of mild outrage is to be expected and ignored (like it does with most games and films). They didn't run campaigns or petitions and there wasn't any increasing pressure to block it. Ubisoft a week or two after the controversy disappeared decided to block the release themselves.
Whether this is part of Ubisoft's tactics to increase demand, which will see them reverse the decision due to "major public demand" remains to be seen.
Re: Ubisoft Doesn't Dare Release We Dare in the UK Either
In practice, it doesn't really matter since I doubt it would have been popular anyway, just another piece of Wii shovelware. However, in principal, it was a terrible decision. The Daily Mail morons will think they have some sort of sway as to what gets published.
Re: Ubisoft Doesn't Dare Release We Dare in the UK Either
Amazing, PEGI has more stones than Ubisoft, and they lose no money if the game loses sales.
-Austin from Oregon
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Re: Ubisoft Doesn't Dare Release We Dare in the UK Either
And here I thought it was only the US that was deathly afraid of sex.
Re: Ubisoft Doesn't Dare Release We Dare in the UK Either
Absolute rubbish - they're only doing this to generate media interest in a party game (I would like to call it poor as indeed I haven't played it, yet it's hard to imagine it becoming the best of all time). There's NO WAY they're making a moral stand against censorship to the detriment of their sales, NO business acts that way!!
Re: Ubisoft Doesn't Dare Release We Dare in the UK Either
Sad, just sad. It seems we spend years fighting against censorship based on paranoia for the sake of the Industry, and as thanks they do it all by themselves.
I would stop buying Ubisoft games, but it's too late for that, besides, at this rate, will they let themselves release any more, or will they be too busy hiding under the blanket?