On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s General Commission for Audiovisual Media announced that Square Enix’s highly-anticipated role-playing game, Final Fantasy XVI, has not been approved for release in the country by the Ministry of Media. The reason for the ban was not provided by the government agency, but they did mention that Square Enix was unwilling to make necessary modifications to the game.
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The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has rated Final Fantasy XVI as “Mature” due to its high levels of violence, including blood splatter, maiming, dismemberment, impaling, and torture. The game also contains sexual or suggestive content such as brothels and intimate scenes, as well as references to prostitution in the game’s dialogue.
It is common for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Media (previously the Ministry of Culture and Information) to prevent the release of games that do not meet their standards for media. Final Fantasy XVI will launch on June 22 as a PlayStation console exclusive until December 31. While the game was initially expected to have a PC release, recent trailers and the game’s website do not mention a PC version.
The game is being developed by Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit III division, with Naoki Yoshida (known for Final Fantasy XIV) as the producer and Hiroshi Takai (also from Final Fantasy XIV) as the director.
Source: Twitter, ANN
