[UPDATED] Malaysia blocks Steam entirely to stop FIGHT OF GODS

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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!



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.

:arrow: SOURCE: GBAtemp Inbox
 
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the_randomizer

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I can see banning a game, but an entire digital download service? Wow, and I thought the government here unnecessarily banned stuff :lol: Just use a VPN or similar service to circumvent the ban :creep: Government official snowflakes much?
 

gameboy

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that area of the world is actually VERY religious and are very conservative. If anyone can remember when Manny Pacquiao said something about homosexuals and animals he took a lot of heat in the USA and UK but everyone else was fine with it.
 

Hells Malice

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Well it's nothing like the Russian Pokemon Go player, that was just some gigantic retard actively breaking a law he knew existed and yet defied anyway for youtube views.

Just country officials being morons as usual. I doubt they contacted anyone and just outright banned steam anyway. Amazing how people are so hilariously sensitive sometimes.
 

pustal

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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!

Most wouldn't actually care. The loud bigots in power and their followers would freak out though.
 

Tony_93

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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!

Stay tuned for that awesome Allah/Mohammed dual character DLC pack :creep:
 
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cant wait for the new Equal rights vs feminist game

jokes aside though, I'm just surprised this outraged enough people to call for a ban, because dosent something like steam have different servers in different regions? like, cant they only pull it from that regions store, instead of banning it entirely?
 
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Burlsol

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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
That's not actually something to joke about. Such games actually exist and are there as (crude) recruitment tools by supremacist organizations to make people desensitized to racially charged beliefs and push forward their own ideology. And these have been getting made regularly since the 80's. The reason why these games don't get noticed and mentioned is because they embody the absolute worse possible reasons for creating a game. These are not designed to poke fun at stereotypes or racial differences, they are there to promote hate and ignorance, and subsequently are not distributed through usual means as a matter of policy. Even if you don't care for censorship, it's a good reason why this kind of vile and repulsive shit doesn't see the light of day outside those circles very often. What you said may have been intended as an attempt at a witty joke on some random forum, but this is the exact sort of thing that leads to massive backlash against gamers and game makers while only benefiting the filth of the world.

Talking about race in a respectful manner is fine and good. It is a discussion that needs to happen. But not like this. Even if your intent is to frame it as parody, the way it would be used and perceived would not be in respect to humor. It would be used to further real racist views and label you as such, forever tainting any future work or endeavors. That is not something that most people enter into willingly, spend thousands of dollars and years of development into. If that's what you want, then I wish you the life of pain and misery you deserve. Thank god you are just some random idiot on the internet.
 
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Sketchy1

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That's not actually something to joke about. Such games actually exist and are there as (crude) recruitment tools by supremacist organizations to make people desensitized to racially charged beliefs and push forward their own ideology. And these have been getting made regularly since the 80's. The reason why these games don't get noticed and mentioned is because they embody the absolute worse possible reasons for creating a game. These are not designed to poke fun at stereotypes or racial differences, they are there to promote hate and ignorance, and subsequently are not distributed through usual means as a matter of policy. Even if you don't care for censorship, it's a good reason why this kind of vile and repulsive shit doesn't see the light of day outside those circles very often. What you said may have been intended as an attempt at a witty joke on some random forum, but this is the exact sort of thing that leads to massive backlash against gamers and game makers while only benefiting the filth of the world.

Talking about race in a respectful manner is fine and good. It is a discussion that needs to happen. But not like this. Even if your intent is to frame it as parody, the way it would be used and perceived would not be in respect to humor. It would be used to further real racist views and label you as such, forever tainting any future work or endeavors. That is not something that most people enter into willingly, spend thousands of dollars and years of development into. If that's what you want, then I wish you the life of pain and misery you deserve. Thank god you are just some random idiot on the internet.
but its the internet, anything goes

but besides, although I can see completely why its offensive, you have to remember, in the gaming industry, the CONSUMERS gave the power, and they can take it away. therefore, if its offensive to someone, they can simply not buy it
(not trying to start an argument)
 
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Stay tuned for that awesome Allah/Mohammed dual character DLC pack :creep:

Tsch...will NEVER happen since Allah was never given any form in any part of Islam(meaning there are no drawings of him. Nor is there enough information out there to actually create an image of him). Also regarding Muhammad, it is agreed on all sides that there are no authentic visual tradition as to the appearance of Muhammad.

Of course people have tried to draw Muhammad and that hasn't gone down well in the past and nor would it in the future. There are drawings from the 13th century of Muhammad. But then again nothing can be 100% confirmed and thus both Allah and Muhammad can never be recreated without significant backlash from over almost 2 Billion Muslims.

So as a result in Islam, Both Muhammad and Allah are usually both presented through verbal descriptions and calligraphic text.
 
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