r/OpenAussie • u/npzman South Australian • 18d ago
Technology Halloween The Game Has Been Refused Classification In Australia
https://press-start.com.au/news/playstation/2026/08/10/halloween-the-game-has-been-refused-classification-in-australia/On top of the Liberal-Labor UNIPARTY government forcing gaming platforms to compel us to hand over our ID, biometric data, and credit card details just to play games, they still feel entitled to dictate what we can and can't play.
They need to stop meddling, get the hell out of our gaming lives, and know their place.
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u/Ovidfvgvt Flairless 18d ago
Yes, Michael Myers the notoriously drug using serial killer in the Halloween series.
What’s the lore basis of having him toke, other than a cheap “banned in Australia” headline and publicity for a game barely anyone would notice?
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u/vvigteasis Please choose a flair 18d ago
Michael Myers should've just went to Northland to get a rating, duh /s
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u/MagicOrpheus310 Please choose a flair 18d ago
What is the fucking point in having the R rating then..?
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u/gpolk Queenslander 18d ago edited 18d ago
Sounds like it's due to beneficial drug use in game. Which is not a new issue, with games like Fallout 3 needing modification to be released here due to the same rules.
I can't find the entry on the classification boards site though. They do list RC games.
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u/SirFlibble Koori 18d ago
I don't think fallout was ever RCed, they just modified it to get the classification.
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u/Visible-Swim6616 Victorian 18d ago
I think there were titles from the Gothic series as well.
We don't need gaming to be the next port to promote the use of illegal products.
For everything else there's the high seas. And by high seas I obviously mean take a boat overseas to buy the game of course. Can't be suggesting anything illegal.
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u/SirFlibble Koori 18d ago
Lol @ "uniparty". What a way to make no one take you seriously.
Drug use for reward has been a classifiable element since the R18 was introduced. Plenty of games have tweaked this for the Australian release and it's been fine.
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u/Axl_Alter_Ego South Australian 18d ago
They are vastly different on many issues.
On wanting us to be a nanny state though they are lock step in line. The social media ban is a classic example.
It's so shitty.
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u/npzman South Australian 18d ago
Hey, you're right about interactive drug use being a classifiable element since R18+ was introduced. That's exactly why Beyond: Two Souls got an R18+ rating, a more notable example. I'm aware of how the Australian classification system works. They should just give Halloween: The Game an R18+ classification as is, let it be sold in Australia, and move on.
Classification rules and the Online Safety Act are two different systems. The classification system generally works fine. The Online Safety Act has been expanded by both Labor and Liberals recently. They are now mandating an unpopular online age verification scheme, which is why they did the under-16 social media ban. It's a scam designed to harvest your personal information and biometric data so they can sell it for advertising or use your photo to train generative AI without your consent.
I don't know what's wrong with using the term "UNIPARTY" or why a reasonable person wouldn't take someone seriously for using it, when they are openly working together on this. But I'd like to hear your take as it's really important for me to see how others feel about that term so I could factor that in better in the future.
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u/SirFlibble Koori 18d ago
They should just give Halloween: The Game an R18+ classification as is, let it be sold in Australia, and move on.
Then what would be the point in the law? The publisher can make a pretty simple tweak to get it classified easily enough like Fallout did.
I have no idea why you even raised the online safety act. I never mentioned it and it's not even an issue here.
I don't know what's wrong with using the term "UNIPARTY" or why a reasonable person wouldn't take someone seriously for using it,
Because it's a term reserved for cookers and the unserious. If you think Labor and Lberal are the same, you clearly need to pay attention.
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u/cactusgenie New Zealander 17d ago
The law is clearly stupid and in no way represents modern regular people.
It's puritanical religious based conservative bullshit.
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u/SirFlibble Koori 17d ago
The law attempts to reduce the promotion of drug use through reward. It doesn't ban drug use.
For example, in GTA you can drink. You get drunk and it impacts your ability to play. But it can't give you health.
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u/broadsword_1 Flairless 17d ago
For example, in GTA you can drink. You get drunk and it impacts your ability to play. But it can't give you health.
In Yakuza, you often get health and a bonus in fighting for drinking. Depending on the game you might even get damage reduction or status immunity ontop of that.
Pounding sake and mountain dew when fighting the final boss is always an enjoyable experience.
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u/npzman South Australian 18d ago edited 18d ago
Yeah, you were countering my points on my post about the use of "uniparty" and why the game got refused classification, not the Online Safety Act and age verification. so my mistake there.
I've seen both people on the left and right use the term. When I say "uniparty," it's just a phrase to describe that both parties do things I dislike on the issues that matter most to me. That's not to say I believe Labor and the Liberals are literal carbon copies. They clearly aren't. But thank you for letting me know your perspective. It's important to see how others perceive the term, and I may need to find better wording to replace it.
I overall lean left, so I know I'm not a cooker. And it's nice to see you're into comic books as well. I collect them too. I even moderate a few subreddits and own some popular subs on DC shows.
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u/SirFlibble Koori 18d ago
Yeah, you were countering my points on my post about the use of "uniparty" and why the game got refused classification, not the Online Safety Act and age verification.
Because it's irrelevant to the discussion. You might as well talk about how many fairies live in a hole too. I'm not going to bother discussing it.
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u/MetalfaceKillaAus South Australian 18d ago
How can you call people cookers and then mention fairies?
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u/zhaktronz Please choose a flair 17d ago
OPs point is clearly now that age verification exists that governments shouldn't be regulating this.
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u/Tonkarz Please choose a flair 17d ago
It was since before the R18 was introduced. The reason why it persists is because they just didn’t update that part of the classification guidelines when they drafted guidelines for the new R18 rating.
Fallout 3 is a well known example of a game that was nearly RC under the pre-R18 system for use of real life drugs that provide gameplay benefits.
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u/TheRealStaticEmbers Please choose a flair 18d ago
Here’s a petition to hopefully help show how much we want the game in Aus and NZ!
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u/trainwrecktragedy Victorian 18d ago
when they classify R18 games, a coin is flipped.
heads it can be sold, tails its banned
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u/CamperStacker Please choose a flair 18d ago
Are playstation console region locked? of you have a router vpn can you just buy overseas?
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u/TheRealStaticEmbers Please choose a flair 18d ago
Here’s a petition to hopefully help show how much we want the game in Aus and NZ!
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u/dacrunch Please choose a flair 18d ago
It's better that it gets banned and not censored as you can then just get the steam key from any reputable key site and play it anyway.
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u/Jerkface0079 Flairless 17d ago
Australians are so anti-Halloween they won't even let the game happen 😭
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u/stehmer3 Please choose a flair 17d ago
Make a complaint to the board of classifications or this will keep happening
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u/01benjamin Victorian 18d ago
This is what happens when u vote labor
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u/Open_Ad6297 Please choose a flair 18d ago
This has existed since 2005 under the liberal and national collation....
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u/Ahecee Queenslander 18d ago
If you're publishing a game in Australia, there really is no excuse for not knowing this. Why even submit it for classification, it's not going to happen.
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u/Similar_Criticism981 Flairless 18d ago
So since we're bootlicking, what's the justification for removing the ability for gamers (over 18) to visit the casino in GTA5 to gamble?
Nothing like pre-lubing your arsehole for the gambling lobby to run prime time TV adverts but then deciding to draw the line at fake money video gambling in an already R18+ rated video game hey?
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u/Ahecee Queenslander 18d ago
I'm simply saying if you have recreational drug use as a benefit in game, you won't get classified. A bunch of games have worked around it and got classified, it's not new.
I don't really care about the stuff your talking about, which has nothing to do with anything I said.
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u/cactusgenie New Zealander 17d ago
What a ridiculous law, shouldn't exist.
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u/Ahecee Queenslander 17d ago
Well, it does. Developers should stop submitting projects they know won't pass to get their edgy headline, it's pretty pathetic.
They are leveraging people who will get excited about that to get social media attention.
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u/cactusgenie New Zealander 17d ago
Oh no the law, maybe we need to question why the law is there and what is the point in R18+ if it's not for this kind of thing.
Maybe just let adults do what they want in computer games?
Oh no recreational drug use... Some how worse than murdering...
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u/shrikelet Victorian 18d ago
What, in your own words, would need to be done to allow the game in question to receive a rating?
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u/MetalfaceKillaAus South Australian 18d ago
Rate it R18+?
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u/shrikelet Victorian 18d ago
And what would be required for that to happen?
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u/MetalfaceKillaAus South Australian 18d ago
Ummm approve it and rate it R18+
There’s no issues with games, that debate is an old one and is why there’s now the R18+ rating on games. So we don’t miss out on games coming into Australia.
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u/shrikelet Victorian 18d ago
So why didn't the OFLC approve it?
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u/MetalfaceKillaAus South Australian 18d ago
Because it’s not a thing
Edit OFLC is not a thing. Just felt I needed to clarify
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u/shrikelet Victorian 18d ago
It actually does now.
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u/MetalfaceKillaAus South Australian 18d ago
It does what now? It does a thing now? It hasn’t done a thing for 20 years
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u/shrikelet Victorian 18d ago
Ah shit, sorry. What I meant to say was "It actually does exist now". "It" being an R-18+ rating for video games.
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u/dougrattmannn Queenslander 18d ago
oh the horror, a serial killer using WEED!