2023-05-07 16:46:17
Even before its release on June 22, the new opus in the cult Final Fantasy saga has been banned in Saudi Arabia. This decision was taken and announced by the public authority of control of the audiovisual media of the country on their twitter account. The latter also specifies having exchanged for many months with Square Enix, but that according to them, the studio would not have made sufficient modifications to authorize marketing in their country.
If this press release forgets to specify the reasons that led to this banishment, it is easy to guess which ones could have caused a problem. In effect, Final Fantasy XVI promises its future players an intrigue containing “mature” content making particular reference to drugs, prostitution, but also the appearance of a gay romance. This last element could be the one that poses a problem for the Saudi authorities, the latter having already opposed the marketing of The Last of Us 2 and Borderlands 3 for this. It is recalled that within this country, homosexuality is a crime, punishable by death. Because even if the game promises to be more violent than the previous installments of the saga, there are already particularly violent and authorized games on the Saudi market.
Square Enix’s refusal to modify the content of their game to adapt to the cultural differences of certain nations and thus broaden the potential audience, is more than commendable. We have known big companies that are more reluctant to maintain the integrity of their works, Disney for example offered different montages depending on the country, in particular in China, which is becoming a very important market for Western blockbusters. Without eliminating the problematic scenes, these romances sometimes undergo a very pernicious form of self-censorship where without necessarily disappearing purely and simply from the plot, they become dispensable and easily culpable in the event of controversy. Easier to cut an extra in the background than the main character of your plot.
At a time when homophobia is expressed without restraint on the internet and particularly in the world of video games (with recent proof, the reception reserved for the DLC of Horizon Forbidden West) the decision of Square Enix which favors integrity of his work and refuses any smoothing, even if it means making less profit, is to be welcomed and highlighted.
1683500321
#Final #Fantasy #XVI #banned #Saudi #Arabia