Life is Strange 2 has been temporarily pulled from sale in Australia, owing to the need for the Australian equivalent of the ESRB to review the game's age ratings. No specific reason for the re-rating has been given by the game's official Twitter account, but players are nonetheless going to be stuck waiting for the situation to settle.
Life is Strange 2 Getting Re-Rated
"Heads up for Australian digital store customers," began a tweet from the game's official account. "#LifeisStrange2 will be unavailable to purchase on ALL platforms as well as re-download on PS4 for approximately 2 weeks from Wednesday onwards, while we work with the Australian age ratings board (ACB) to review age ratings.""This situation is temporary and only affects Australian digital storefronts," the Twitter announcement concluded. "We will restore service asap and will keep you updated with any developments. Already installed LiS2 content will not be removed from your device during this period and will still be playable."
No reason for the rating reevaluation was given.
Since Life is Strange 2 is an episodic game, the constant stream of content could have potentially triggered a reevaluation by the Australian age ratings board, the country's equivalent of the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Episode 4 of the game most recently launched in early August, and the fifth and final episode is set to debut sometime in December 2019. Presumably, the content already released in Episode 4 or the upcoming content for Episode 5 has led to the need for the ACB to re-evaluate the game's rating.
Australia is one of a handful of Western countries with notoriously strict rules for content in video games. These rules led to bans for games like We Happy Few, Genital Jousting, and other titles; some of these issues ultimately never got resolved, effectively banning these games in Australia.
One particularly weird part about this case is that PlayStation 4 players will not be able to re-download Life is Strange 2 if they own it until it has been re-rated. If you own Life is Strange 2 on PlayStation 4 and live in Australia, we would advise given this situation that you redownload it right now before that option is no longer available to you. Hopefully, this strange situation will get all sorted out.
What do you think of Life is Strange 2 being re-rated? Do you think the Australian age ratings board is overzealous with their content restrictions? Let us know in the comments below!
https://twitter.com/LifeIsStrange/status/1171012269918105600
