Political situations are now delaying (or in this case, altogether denying) video game releases it seems.
The Board of Film and Video Censors of Thailand have informed New Era, the distributor of Kalypso’s Tropico 5, that the game would not be cleared for release in the southeast Asian country.
The group cited “some contents of the game are not appropriate for the current situation” but declined to mention which parts of the game caused the ruling. New Era has decided against appealing the decision, despite the success of Tropico 3 and Tropico 4 in the region.
Kalypso has said that the game has a certain “tongue in cheek humor” despite its “realistic political element.”
We’ve always found the games to be over-the-t0p with political humour, though it has always been done in a satirical way. It’s not surprising that Thailand has decided to ban it, however, since the game now lets users create their own dynasties.
It seems that political tensions have sparked a lot of issues with entertainment media lately, including Seth Rogen’s film The Interview and the upcoming Far Cry 4.
Tropico 5 is now available for PC in both digital and physical form, while Mac, Linux, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 4 versions to follow later this year.