Bohemia Interactive’s DayZ is finally headed to consoles in a standalone release, but the game is going to be missing one of its most unique features.
Earlier this month, Kotaku reported that DayZ was to be banned in Australia thanks to its drug use, as the player can spark up a joint to regain health.
Although drug use in games is sometimes allowed under the R18+ classification guidelines in Australia, that doesn’t apply to any “detailed or realistic” drug use. In the case of DayZ, Australia found it didn’t comply with the rules and so banned the game outright.
Unfortunately for the rest of the world, it sounds like Bohemia Interactive has made the decision to completely axe the mechanic from the game for everyone on the planet, rather than have the title banned in Australia.
Over on Twitter, Bohemia Interactive spoke up about the ban before making the decision to censor the game.
“The Australian player base is a big and very important part of our community. At the moment we are looking for the best solution to keep the game on the Australian market and pass the classification according to all regulations,” tweeted DayZ.
“We will do everything in our power to keep the game playable and available for Australian gamers.”
We will do everything in our power to keep the game playable and available for Australian gamers.
— DayZ ? ? ❤️ (@DayZ) August 9, 2019
In a statement to Kotaku, Bohemia Interactive said: “We don’t want to separate Australian players from the rest of the world, since many people play cross-region,
“We love that DayZ is the place to meet with friends and experience the game without dramatic regional lag. We don’t want to change that.
“At the moment, we are editing the global version of DayZ so it will fit into the Board’s requirements. The key objective is to keep the gameplay as authentic as it was, so players are not affected by this change.”
It’s not clear whether “editing the global version” means the weed smoking will be canned entirely, but if you were planning on picking up DayZ you can probably wave goodbye to celebrating 4/20 with your buddies…
Featured Image Credit: Bohemia Interactive