EA have cancelled all Dragon Age: Inquisition preorders in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh because the game broke “local obscenity laws”. EA haven’t clarified which obscenity laws Bioware’s RPG breaks but the game’s Indian distributor, Milestone Interactive, says it is because of the gay characters and sex scenes.
In a statement provided to Kotaku, an EA rep said “In order to avoid a breach of local content laws, EA has withdrawn Dragon Age: Inquisition from sale in India and the game is no longer available for pre-order. Customers who pre-ordered the game will be contacted directly and will be fully refunded.”
In regards to same sex scenes the rep specifically said “The decision here is in relation to local obscenity laws, but not specific to same gender romance.”
However, Milestone apparently told NDTV that the cancellation refers to homosexual content.
Whetever the reason, Milestone sound less than chuffed. They told DnaIndia that “Rather than face the wrath of some of India’s more prudish segments of society, EA have pre-emptively decided to make the game unavailable in India, without confirming or commenting on which local laws were being breached.”
EA say this retraction only applies to Dragon Age: Inquisition. So it begs the question, what is it that Dragon Age: Inquisition features that contravenes local obscenity laws which Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 3, and Grand Theft Auto V don’t?
We’ve reached out to Milestone for further details.