The Australian board responsible for rating film, video games and other media has effectively banned Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number from the country by refusing to rate the game. The refusal comes despite the recent addition of an R18+ rating for games with mature content.

The official reason for the refusal to rate Hotline Miami 2 states that the board can refuse to rate games that “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified.”

An official classification report received by Kotaku Australia singles out a particular scene in the game that “implicitly” depicts a violent rape that “is emphasised by it being mid-screen, with a red backdrop pulsating and the remainder of the screen being surrounded by black.”

What is not mentioned in the rating refusal is that the previously mentioned scene is part of a movie set, and the assault is almost immediately interrupted by a director yelling “Cut!”

Mandatory ratings

Unlike the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the self-regulated board that rates video games in the U.S., the Australian Classification Board is government sanctioned and mandatory. Because of this, a refusal by the board to rate the game means that it cannot be sold within the country.

Many gamers were outraged by the news, especially because the Classification Board recently introduced an R18 rating for games that would theoretically allow more mature titles to be sold to adults. But Reddit user /u/soulblade64 points out that “[Australia’s] new R18 rating covers increased levels of violence only. The regulations were never changed for anything to do with drug use and sexual violence.”

Devolver Digital, the publisher behind Hotline Miami 2, must either submit a modified version of the game that removes some of its sexual and drug elements or give up on an Australian release entirely.

Other games that were initially refused a rating in Australia include South Park: The Stick of Truth and Saints Row IV. Both were eventually released in Australia with their offending scenes removed.