Author Topic: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivalent  (Read 2786 times)

Offline MysterD

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Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivalent
« on: Thursday, November 30, 2006, 05:01:11 PM »
Crytek's thinking of moving out of Germany, due to Germany's ESRB-equivalent (the USK) and how they "rate" violent video games (like say Dead Rising) could cause their game to possibly go "Unrated" or to the ESRB equivalent of "Adults Only" -- which would make the game only able to be sold at places minor's are not allowed.

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Crysis developer mulling move
Looming German ban on violent games would force shop behind EA's $27 million shooter to pull up stakes.
By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot
Posted Nov 30, 2006 1:17 pm PT

While the Wii and PlayStation 3 launches were hogging headlines in the US, games were also getting attention in Germany--for all the wrong reasons. On November 20, the central European nation was shocked when an 18-year-old went on a shooting rampage at his former school in the town of Emsdetten, near the Dutch border. After wounding six, the attacker, who also had explosives strapped to his body, turned the gun on himself.

Almost immediately, parallels were drawn to the 2002 Erfurt Massacre, where a student shot 13 in Germany, and the 1999 Columbine Massacre, where two students killed 12 and wounded 24 at a Colorado high school. As was the case with Erfurt and Columbine, media reports on the Emsdetten tragedy focused on the perpetrator's fascination with violent games, called "killer games" In Germany. The subsequent furor has led many members of the German parliament, or Bundestag, to call for a ban on all violent games.

"Killer games make a fatal contribution to a growing tendency towards violence and they promote aggressive behavior," Jörg Schönbohm, the interior minister of Brandenburg, a province in the former East Germany, told Der Speigel magazine. "That's why strict action is needed against games that glorify violence."

Currently, games deemed overly violent, like Dead Rising and Gears of War, are refused certification by the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK)--the German equivalent of the Entertainment Software Rating Board--putting them in the same category as pornography. If released in Germany, an unrated game is available only in stores where minors are not permitted (for example, adult book shops) and are regulated by the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien).

With the threat of an outright ban of violent games looming, one of Germany's most prominent developers is considering moving. In an video interview with the Focus TV network, Crytek CEO and president Cevat Yerli said that if the ban becomes law, "Perhaps there won't be a Crytek in Germany. That would mean we'd have to get out of here and go elsewhere."

Crytek has good reason to be concerned. The ban would almost certainly apply to its critically acclaimed 2004 first-person shooter Far Cry and its high-profile current project, Crysis. Bankrolled by Electronic Arts, Crysis is one of the most expensive games ever made, sporting a budget of more than 20 million euros (approximately $27 million).

Offline Xessive

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #1 on: Thursday, November 30, 2006, 06:12:47 PM »
Germany has a weird system. They're very strict and frigid about violence, but they're extremely lenient with sexual content.

I remember my cousin (16 at the time) couldn't get Quake 2 for the longest time, it was banned for a while!

Hehe I'm just imagining a culture-shock situation: :P

Clerk: Nein! Your child cannot be exposed to ze violence depicted in zis videogame! Here, give him Singles!
Parent: What?! My kid's twelve! This is inappropriate! He wouldn't even understand what half the sexual content is!
Clerk: Twelve and he's never had his fräulein jemandem einen blasen?! Vat a loser!

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #2 on: Thursday, November 30, 2006, 06:50:44 PM »
Heh, yeah.  Crazy Europeans.  But hey, at least it isn't America.  Every fucking politician here wants to ban *everything*.  So it would be more like:

Clerk:  Nope.  Your kid can't play this game because it is violent.
Parent:  How about this one?
Clerk:  Nope.  That ones has boobs in it.
Parent:  Oh, right.  Okay, so how about this cute little thing with frogs and bunnies?
Clerk:  The frogs and bunnies fight sometimes, so I'm afraid that's out.
Parent:  Uh... this chess game?
Clerk:  Nope.  See, the pieces "kill" each other, and that's violence.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline scottws

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivalent
« Reply #3 on: Thursday, November 30, 2006, 10:43:35 PM »
Yeah, but at least bans have been pretty much rejected.

Offline Xessive

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #4 on: Thursday, November 30, 2006, 11:04:10 PM »
Yeah, but at least bans have been pretty much rejected.
Thankfully!

I don't really get it, these people claim all sorts of notions of altruism, but if porn is legal then I don't see how anything else in the media can be criticized. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd be much less worried about my kid seeing a violent fight scene than a moment of some chick getting pounded.

Offline beo

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #5 on: Thursday, November 30, 2006, 11:20:10 PM »
hmm... i've never understood why violence is more acceptable than sex.

not to say that i don't appreciate violence, i just don't see why sex is so offensive to everyone.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #6 on: Thursday, November 30, 2006, 11:35:36 PM »
Because sex, like violence, is extremely easy to pervert.  But being that most violence is, essentially, a perversion, people don't worry about it as much.  Sex on the other hand is often considered sacred, hence the desecration of a thing is logically worse than someone seeing something that's already frowned upon.  That's what I figure, anyway.  I mean, why is rape like the worst crime imaginable?  Why is it so horrible and emotionally scarring?  Because it's a perversion of something that, in the right circumstances, should be beautiful and meaningful, not painful and humiliating.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Xessive

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #7 on: Friday, December 01, 2006, 12:02:29 AM »
There's that, but then there's the frequency of it as well. Violence in general is a lot more common than sex (at least where I'm from). Whether it's people shouting, kids fighting at school, dudes fighting outside a club, vehicular collisions, police raids, etc. Some form of violence is a part of life, and it's sort of a rite of passage as you're growing up. Sex on the other hand is not meant for children. It's like that secret you're supposed to know about until you reach a certain age (which in my view should be around 16-18, no less). As Que said, there's a level of sanctity attributed to sex; it's meant to be enjoyed (and consentual) by both parties. Of course sex is only dirty if you're doing it right :P

I remember noticing how Western society is so sexualized. For me it was a bit of a culture-shock. I mean "sex" is so saturated out here; in TV, advertising, magazines, all forms of media seem to revolve around it or allude to it. It's not uncommon for teens to be getting it on, resulting in the swelling numbers of teen pregnancies as well.

I believe in moderation.. I think the sex needs to be toned down a little.. Violence too of course. I still believe that sex should be a private matter. It can be discussed publicly, but it shouldn't be a rampant part of society.
« Last Edit: Friday, December 01, 2006, 10:48:32 AM by Xessive »

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #8 on: Friday, December 01, 2006, 12:25:32 AM »
Heh.  Don't expect many to agree with you, X, though I happen to.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #9 on: Friday, December 01, 2006, 10:46:05 AM »
You are one of the few Westerners to agree with that sort of thing.

I agree with Xessive and couldn't have put things better.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #10 on: Friday, December 01, 2006, 02:37:41 PM »
Heh, yeah.  Crazy Europeans.  But hey, at least it isn't America.  Every fucking politician here wants to ban *everything*.  So it would be more like:

Clerk:  Nope.  Your kid can't play this game because it is violent.
GTA!

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Parent:  How about this one?
Clerk:  Nope.  That ones has boobs in it.
Singles series (AO version not sold in USA Retail stores)!

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Parent:  Oh, right.  Okay, so how about this cute little thing with frogs and bunnies?
Clerk:  The frogs and bunnies fight sometimes, so I'm afraid that's out.
Conker's Bad Fur Day?

Speaking of Conker, that's one of the few rated M cartoon-esque platformers, eh???

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Parent:  Uh... this chess game?
Clerk:  Nope.  See, the pieces "kill" each other, and that's violence.
I thought it was "capturing". :P

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #11 on: Friday, December 01, 2006, 02:41:09 PM »
You can't ban any games outright here, but there could be a lot of pressure brought against the developers and places that sell the games.  Anyone can sue anyone for anything here, and the loser doesn't even have to pay the winner's legal costs (unlike England).  As a result, money = power, directly.  A big meddling group suing a developer could prevail simply on the basis of money poured into the battle.  It's not as simple as absolute freedom of speech and expression, unfortunately.

Offline MysterD

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #12 on: Saturday, December 02, 2006, 08:52:46 AM »
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Bankrolled by Electronic Arts, Crysis is one of the most expensive games ever made, sporting a budget of more than 20 million euros (approximately $27 million).
That sure is a lot of peanuts!  :o

Offline MysterD

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #13 on: Thursday, December 07, 2006, 02:39:37 PM »
Crysis went from an Early 2007 candidate for a release date to now "no release date yet"

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Cevat has kindly made a statement regarding the release date for Crysis - here it is:

“There has been a lot of recent talk about Crysis' ship date. I wanted to send out a message to all those who are interested and set the record straight. The game will ship a little later than planned. I want to assure everyone that Crytek are working as hard as we possibly can to deliver this game to our fans and consumers in the earliest timeframe that meets our high quality threshold. Taking the extra time in the studio is the right decision because it helps us be sure that we can bring you the experience you expect from this new game.


2006 has been an amazing year for us and we have had great responses from press and fans coming out of Leipzig in August and E3 back in May. We appreciate all of the interest and comments -- positive and not so positive -- that we have been receiving. Crysis is an ambitious game in so many aspects and much of what we are doing will be a genuine first for the gaming industry: some of this stuff is really hard and just takes time to get right.

We are focussing our efforts right now on getting the best possible experience for the widest variety of PC configs, starting from entry-level PC's up to the hard-core game rigs. Multiplayer is also an area of big focus for us right now, and we listened very hard to our fans. This includes the post-launch modding and community plans. Crysis' core single player is improving all the time - the progress I am seeing from the team right now here in Frankfurt is just staggering.

We are tracking well and trying our very best to release the game as soon as we can but Crytek and EA can't provide a hard date just yet.”

Offline Pugnate

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Re: Crytek considering moving out of Germany, due to Germany's own ESRB-equivale
« Reply #14 on: Thursday, December 07, 2006, 03:10:44 PM »
 >:(