Japanese visual novel, mystery game, and child trauma simulator Danganronpa is getting a fourth game in the series, confusingly titled V3. It’s coming to Steam day-and-date with its other Western versions – September 26, murder fans. Given the pedigree of its prequels will probably be quite good. South Korean citizens, however, won’t be allowed to play it.
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As found by Kotaku, the game was turned down by South Korea’s Game Rating and Administration Committee. Any game with a denied rating cannot be sold, imported or otherwise, without breaking the law. That’s physical versions dealt with, though digital retail is a trickier subject when it comes to the use of VPNs and such.
The committee says the game violates Section 2-3 of Game Law Article 32, explaining “there is a concern for societal disruption due to amplified portrayal of crime, violence, sex and etc which in turn would incite criminal behavior or copycat crimes.”
As for why, well, it’s a game about kids murdering other kids for a variety of reasons. As Kotaku explains, that’s been something of ahot topic(warning: the linked article discusses graphic violence) in South Korea recently. The committee’s official statement is:
“The decision was based on the game’s content. We did raise concern about copycat crime and whatnot, but the rating was not denied just because of that. We determined that the game had crossed the line where it was difficult to allow this in society.”
Publishers Sony told the Korean source Gamemeca that they were considering how to respond to the ban, but didn’t have any announcement to make at that time. It seems unlikely a simple content cut in one area of the game would be enough to get it through, but previous Danganronpas have been released in the country with an Adult Only rating.