Released on Steam Early Access this week, Fight of Gods is a fighting game that features deities like Moses, Jesus, Zeus, Buddha and even Anubis!

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If you thought it couldn't get even more intense, then you were wrong! The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission have called for a ban on the game and asked for it to be disabled within 24 hours or face further actions. And then Steam was entirely banned.

In a press release, PQube, the game's publisher, noted that "we never received any communications from Malaysian officials here at PQube, however reports seem to indicate that Malaysia has now blocked access to all of Steam in order to prevent access to Fight of Gods."

Talking to The Star about their actions, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission had the following to say: "Malaysians respect all cultural and religious sensitivities, and the sale and distribution of the religiously insensitive and blasphemous games must be stopped immediately."

Below is a short statement on the matter from Digital Crafter and PQube:

Fight of Gods is a video game that takes a humorous approach to religion in the same way that other entertainment formats have – across television, film, books and theatre.

The game is not promoting any religious agenda and is not designed to offend. The description of the game on the digital platforms through which it is distributed provide clear guidance on the nature of the game and its content so that people can freely choose whether or not to play it. We fully respect the choice of those who would not wish to play it.

We are disappointed that such freedom of choice is not given to everyone and in particular that the game has been forcibly removed from sale in Malaysia, although no direct communication has been received by us as to the reasons for this. Nevertheless we respect any rules and censorship imposed in any given territory.


We have reached out to Steam and are working with them to resolve the situation as soon as possible.

Kotaku reached out to Valve and they replied with the following statement:

Right now players in Malaysia can access the games they own on Steam, but the Steam Store is being blocked by some local telcos in Malaysia. From reports we are reading, this is due to a single game that conflicts with local laws. We have contacted the developer, removed the game, and are attempting to make contact with the officials in Malaysia to remove the block. We apologize for any inconvenience.

So what do you think of this ban? Somewhat reminiscent of the Russian Pokémon GO player who was recently jailed for playing the game in a church, no?

UPDATE:

It seems like Steam has been unblocked in Malaysia while Fight of Gods has been removed from the digital game distribution platform in the country.

SOURCE: GBAtemp Inbox

 

[smileyhead]

they banned and blocked the entirety of Steam for one game...?
*dies of laughter*

 

[The Catboy]

That's a pretty extreme reaction over one game. So Hatred didn't go too far? But this game is the straw that broke the camel's back?

 

[kkusagami]

yeah ,Malaysia is very case sentitive religious country. I feel ashamed to be born and raised as Malaysian,only good thing about Malaysia is about totally no natural disaster occurance like earthquake ,hurricane/tornado ,tsunami ,volcano and etc...

1 thing ,i am Atheist myself,and I couldn't bring saying i am Atheist on my living area ,or else people here would end up bullying or threatening me in some sort of ways.

 

[8BitWonder]

They should try God of war, they might like it.

 

[VitaType]

Oh, finally I will be able to buy Gods as DLC. How can you now justify to be agains DLC? (Yes, DLC isn't planned yet, but we all know how it will end).
Huh? What do you mean with I missed the point? I think that is the real news here

Seems there is no Thor, Mohammed or Looki for now, but it's still in Early Access. I would be surpised if Thor and Shiva wouldn't be in the base game, they are a pretty obvious choices for adding to such a fighting game, I think.

 

[Patxinco]

Ok...

Well, no more malaysian bots on Steam this week xD

 

[Silverthorn]

Smite is on Steam too, I just don't get it.

 

[VitaType]

Smite is on Steam too, I just don't get it.

I assume this decision was made by some old person who hardly know what steam is, or this "internet" everyone talks about in recent years, maybe there was a newspaper article about this "shocking" game...

Also I think SMITE dosn't has Jesus and Moses since the steam page of SMITE says "Gods of Old". That could make the difference for the Malaysian goverment.

 

[cearp]

lol can you imagine how they (or other muslims) would react if their precious alla or m0hammed were in this game?

i'm surprised they reacted like this without those characters though. just a bunch of old fashioned backwards screeching!

 

[kkusagami]

lol can you imagine how they (or other muslims) would react if their precious alla or m0hammed were in this game?

i'm surprised they reacted like this without those characters though. just a bunch of old fashioned backwards screeching!

haha ,cearp I feel you, when you are in Msia,you can't say anything about that ,they will throw ya into jail immediately and lawyers will be not allow to defend you for this case.

 

[Bladexdsl]

Malaysia truly crazia!

 

[Deleted User]

They're sensitive over everything yet Manhunt is still available there.
One word: wewlad

 

[Pluupy]

We will gladly accept Shin Megami Tensei, however.

yeah ,Malaysia is very case sentitive religious country. I feel ashamed to be born and raised as Malaysian,only good thing about Malaysia is about totally no natural disaster occurance like earthquake ,hurricane/tornado ,tsunami ,volcano and etc...

You sure about that?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Sabah_earthquake

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombalai_Hill

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floods_in_Malaysia

 

[VitaType]

haha ,cearp I feel you, when you are in Msia,you can't say anything about that ,they will throw ya into jail immediately and lawyers will be not allow to defend you for this case.

Malaysia beeing a country with around 60% muslims I assume it's more a matter of the city or city part you're while speaking about Islam

 

[kkusagami]

We will gladly accept Shin Megami Tensei, however.


You sure about that?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Sabah_earthquake

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombalai_Hill

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floods_in_Malaysia

I am malaysian myself, why would i lie u ?
the earthquake isn't happening from malaysia,it happens on indonesia and effected us by a little bit.
The bombalai is the first thing i have ever heard in my life,thanks for sharing.
Floods are happening anywhere in malaysia ,this isn't really considering natural disaster,it is caused by human and development in the country.

 

[sp3off]

yeah ,Malaysia is very case sentitive religious country. I feel ashamed to be born and raised as Malaysian,only good thing about Malaysia is about totally no natural disaster occurance like earthquake ,hurricane/tornado ,tsunami ,volcano and etc...

1 thing ,i am Atheist myself,and I couldn't bring saying i am Atheist on my living area ,or else people here would end up bullying or threatening me in some sort of ways.

Malaysia is a pretty decent country in fact. They are the ONLY country to control EVERYthing, like the "halal" certificate. In France, we are not sure at all if we eat Halal to be honest. But in Malaysia, you have Halal Coke, halal papers (not joking at all)... They control everything, and that's pretty cool compared to us.

 

[migles]

lol can you imagine how they (or other muslims) would react if their precious alla or m0hammed were in this game?

i'm surprised they reacted like this without those characters though. just a bunch of old fashioned backwards screeching!

i wanted to see what happened if someone made a a game "race killer" and you would get very high payout for killing muslims and penalties for killing Nazis


i mean with the ammount of anime girls full of sexual content games.. steam is already filled with trash games, so i wanted to see someone testing the waters of "offendingness"

 

[sp3off]

i wanted to see what happened if someone made a a game "race killer" and you would get very high payout for killing muslims and penalties for killing Nazis


i mean with the ammount of anime girls full of sexual content games.. steam is already filled with trash games, so i wanted to see someone testing the waters of "offendingness"

So you know that in France, they banned a game for "excessive violence" ? Do not remember the name though.

 

[migles]

So you know that in France, they banned a game for "excessive violence" ? Do not remember the name though.

there was plenty of contorversy arround gta, but heh. it's the one of the most sold games now..

they are games... they are fantasy, only poor brained would mix fantasy with real life and being offended by games...