Wolfenstein: The New Order Will Be "Geo-Locked" To Conform With German Law

[Andy Chalk]

Wolfenstein: The New Order Will Be "Geo-Locked" To Conform With German Law

Bethesda says the PC version of Wolfenstein: The New Order will be regionally locked to keep it from being activated in Germany.

It's no secret that Germany has some rather strict laws regulating the display of Nazi symbols, with penalties for those who violate them ranging from hefty fines to prison time. You can see how that would be a problem for the Wolfenstein franchise, which is all about fighting Nazis, because the fact that they're the bad guys carries no weight in the eyes of German authorities.

It's no surprise, then, that the German version of the game will be about "The Regime" rather than Nazis, as Bethesda's Pete Hines explained last month [http://www.gamefront.com/germanys-nazi-thing-keeps-them-out-of-wolfenstein-the-new-order/], and that all Nazi-related content has been stripped from that edition of the game. But today, the publisher announced that it's going even farther to protect itself by taking steps to keep the international version of The New Order - which is to say, the one with all the Nazi stuff - out of the country.

"In order to prevent any digital copies of the international version from being sold, exported, imported or distributed into Germany, PC versions will be geo-locked so that they cannot be activated within Germany," the publisher announced today. "On the basis of legal advice and industry standard practice, we are also not making the international version available for sale in Austria."

The German-language version of Wolfenstein: The New Order will be available in other parts of the world for those who want it, although Bethesda noted that the changes relate to "Nazi content only," and that "although there are some legally required differences, the levels of violence and action remain the same as in the international version."

Wolfenstein: The New Order comes out on May 20 for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC.

Source: Bethesda Blog [http://www.bethblog.com/wolfenstein-the-new-order/]


Permalink

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

They should have changed them from Nazis to Hydra.

Then everyone would play it.

 

[Something Amyss]

They should have changed them from Nazis to Hydra.

Then everyone would play it.

Return to Castle Red Skull.

Not to be confused with "Return to Castle Greyskull," an FPS starring He-Man.

 

[Mojo]

Bullshit. Bullshit laws, bullshit decision (it is the easy way out) bullshit institutions (FSK and their hypocticism of games and movies in that regard - movies are a-okay). What is more to say?

Damn strait.
Swastikas in books? Sure. In moves? No problem. In a game? WHY WONT SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?
Oh, and while were at it, might as will take out all the blood and anything we deem "offensive" then delay the game for,
oh lest see, three weeks.
Yeah, that sounds about right.

 

[hazydawn]

"On the basis of legal advice and industry standard practice, we are also not making the international version available for sale in Austria."
Why? Do they have the same crappy childish laws that we do in Germany or is it that they just can't be bothered to make a destinction between the two countries?

I fucking hate that law. Fucking outdated "Oberste Landesjugendbehörde" with their retarded logic -.-'

 

[Citizen Graves]

That sucks. Hopefully Germany get round to accepting games as art soon :/

Thank you. This is the problem in a nutshell (in Germany). It is fine for Indiana Jones and Captain Avenger-Face (of Murka) to punch Nazi-Idiots in the face since movies are recognized as ART by german law.

Video-Games do not get that benefit in Germany. This issue has been brought before german courts exactly once ca. 20 years ago when FPS-games were fresh and both public and political opinion of games and gamers in general was widely negative.

Times have changed but the law stays the same because no one has the willingness (game publishers) or the resources (gamers) to bring this issue before courts once again.


Instead Publishers like Bethesda actively choose to harrass gamers by breaking consumer-rights through locking out adult customers from being able to activate and play their legally obtained copies of a game that they are by law permitted to buy and own for personal use.

Wolfenstein in it's uncut form is not illegal in Germany. Sure, it can not be openly sold and/or advertised publically, but if adults choose to buy such games (in it's intended and uncut form) they may do so freely by importing them from other countries.


If Bethesda claims that they are operating within the parameters of the law of Germany then they are lying. This press release is a slap in the face for every German gamer who would enjoy nothing more than buying an uncut copy of a Wolfenstein game and shoot a f**king Nazi in the face.


And you know what the worst thing about all this is? The ridiculously changed german version of Wolfenstein will NOT include English language option but instead, once again, exclusively feature terrible, terrible german voice-over. Oh, and Austria get's to suffer, too? Why?
Oh, I guess because "F*** YOU Austria" and it's where Hitler came from, so.......it's your own fault.


*Sigh*

I wish someone would speak up for german gamers on this issue.

Someone with the power to confront game publishers with their bullshit and stick their nose in it.

Someone great.

Someone we should all thank god for.

*Sigh*


But it doesn't matter now, I will just buy and activate this game in my home country. A country that is proud of their killing of the Nazis. It's just sad that living in Germany means that we soemtimes have to put up with this bullshit.



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TL;DR:

THIS SUCKS, I hate it and I'm writing up a wall of angry ranting on the Interwebz. Well, F*** you Bethesda, you lying c**t.

#First-World-Problems

 

[senkus]

That sucks. Hopefully Germany get round to accepting games as art soon :/

We sort of have, the German Cultural Council has declared them as such, which you could see as an 'official' acknowledgement of games as art. Sadly, legislation does not reflect that yet and I am not holding my breath for it as long as Angie is in office.

"On the basis of legal advice and industry standard practice, we are also not making the international version available for sale in Austria."

Wow, ludicrous. They are saying it as if Austria is not a country in and of itself.

 

[omega 616]

Without stamping on toes, how is Germany with the whole world war 2 thing? It would be insensitive to just assume Germans are ok with killing nazi's, so they strip it out but what if Germans are ok with killing them?

It's not like German = nazi, I think even Germans can say nazi's are bad. Though, that is saying "my great grand pappy was bad" which is a harsh thing to say.

 

[FEichinger]

Without stamping on toes, how is Germany with the whole world war 2 thing? It would be insensitive to just assume Germans are ok with killing nazi's, so they strip it out but what if Germans are ok with killing them?

It's not like German = nazi, I think even Germans can say nazi's are bad. Though, that is saying "my great grand pappy was bad" which is a harsh thing to say.

Germany has gotten over it. The far right is getting traction again thanks to the Euro crisis, but for the most part WWII is a thing of the past that's been analyzed, faced, and resolved in any way imaginable and feasible. It's every-bloody-one else who immediately pulls out the "Germans = Nazis" nonsense, which is why Germany has to keep that tucked away as much as possible, lest there actually be a reason for people to say such.

(Edit: As has been mentioned, this is (just like most violence cuts) actually not a matter of law - there has been no conclusive decision in recent years from any German court as to whether or not such imagery would be permissible (just like violence hasn't gotten a game genuinely banned (or even indexed) in ages). For what it's worth, I appreciate publishers having the ethical compass to avoid controversial topics in foreign countries - but they sure could try getting their facts straight and telling the truth.)

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

ive been screwed over by region locking before so i can relate to the germans with this, i can only hope their government stops being so retarded in the near future

seriously, they hope to fight the nazi ideology by acting in an authoritarian way themselves? yeah that makes a lot fucking sense

 

[RedBackDragon]

I will be interested to see how on earth they can get this too work , region locking is nothing new so what can they hope to achieve by this other than potentially losing income to pirate providers unless they think that unicorn farts are going to keep the game "geo locked" its going to take some very interesting DRM.

Watch your Graphics cards and hide your hard drives who knows what manner of hell this could cause.

 

[hazydawn]

We sort of have, the German Cultural Council has declared them as such, which you could see as an 'official' acknowledgement of games as art. Sadly, legislation does not reflect that yet and I am not holding my breath for it as long as Angie is in office.

Pfff, the next Bundeskanzler/-in (Federal Chancellor) will not touch that subject either.
Here's a not too old interview (in German) with somebody from the responsible authority:
http://www.pcgames.de/Panorama-Thema-233992/Specials/Spiele-sind-keine-Filme-Interview-mit-der-Obersten-Landesjugendbehoerde-1112254

Without stamping on toes, how is Germany with the whole world war 2 thing?

We're constantly reminded in history class, television and society about what bad people we are that we mustn't let anything like that ever happen again. Which I agree, we must never forget. But politics and some people take this mentality too far in my opinion. In their mind we still owe the Jews and Israel some kind of special treatment. Or maybe they just feel guilty for no reason.
And we obviously can't even be trusted to be reasonable adults according to the law. Our fragile minds must be protected. Because anyone who reads "Mein Kampf" or sees a swastika in a video game THAT IS ABOUT KILLING NAZIS will turn immediately into a nazi as if there's a nazi-virus hidden in it. It's history god dammit! Let people educate themselves! ...and kill virtual nazis.

Edit: Ok, maybe "constantly" is exaggerated, but every now and then it pops up
And becuase we still treat it in this fashion I wouldn't say we've moved past it.

 

[Glaice]

Can't Germany move on from this nonsense already by being uptight on shit that happened 70 years ago? Yes, there are a minority of people who follow Nazism in secret but does this mean the entire gaming community has to suffer because of World War 2 atrocities involving their country?

They're being uptight with Nazism as China is being with a game offending them.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

I imagine one of the earliest PC mods out there will be the patch that will turn the German version of the game into everyone else's version of the game. Listen, Germany, we know you're sorry about what happened, but there's few left alive who can claim direct responsibility.

This level of censorship almost seems like Germany wants to pretend that Nazis didn't exist and don't exist.

 

[hazydawn]

This level of censorship almost seems like Germany wants to pretend that Nazis didn't exist and don't exist.

Nah, there are relatively often documentaries on television about it and if you're going into a new school it's bound to be treated extensively (just like time after the war with the DDR). It's been three times for me. And people and politics still feel a strong responsibility to root out every form of National Socialism. Hence these retarded laws. They're just overdoing it and don't treat the citizens of the country as adults. It's the same with violence of video games in general here. Now that I think about it, they just hate video games...

 

[WouldYouKindly]

This level of censorship almost seems like Germany wants to pretend that Nazis didn't exist and don't exist.

Nah, there are relatively often documentaries on television about it and if you're going into a new school it's bound to be treated extensively (just like time after the war with the DDR). It's been three times for me. And people and politics still feel a strong responsibility to root out every form of National Socialism. Hence these retarded laws. They're just overdoing it and don't treat the citizens of the country as adults. It's the same with violence of video games in general here. Now that I think about it, they just hate video games...

Well, that's just ass backwards. You hear several times about all the horrible shit they did but aren't allowed to blow them away as clearly evil villains?

I would be more understanding if the ban was used with more discretion, only banning things that paint the Nazis in a positive light. The 'Merican(that's the way it's spelled in this context) in me still wouldn't like it, but for a country that never wants anything like that to happen again, it's reasonable.

 

[Eiv]

According to Schnittberichte.com (popular site about censored games and movies), the UK version gets censored in the same manner.

Ain't the first time something like this is done, same was tried with Saints Row and Black Ops II. Probably because the publishers are very aware that nobody buys the censored garbage as soon as the word spread. There are several ways to circumvent the IP block, but most people will probably just pirate it.

Way to go, Bethesda...

That better not be true. If not then I may have to consider alternative means to get this game.