The lusty school-girl hunting rail "shooter" Gal Gun 2 has been denied age classification by the USK in Germany ultimately preventing its retail release in the country.

In the controversial sequel to the original 2015 Gal Gun: Double Peace (which was also banned in New Zealand but strangely not in Germany), you take the role of a Japanese school boy who becomes the unwavering object of attraction for swarms of daemon-possessed school-girls who you must fend off with your pheromone arrows, putting them in a state of dazed euphoria.

Published PQube commented on the ban:

Today we have received word that Gal*Gun 2 has been refused classification in Germany.

We’ll always try to get games through classification regardless of the possibility of it being denied, as we feel that everyone should have the right and the access to play the games they want to play. It is our opinion that disliking the content in a piece of entertainment or art, and voicing that dislike, is totally fine and even encouraged, but denying that work the right to exist in a market based on personal opinions and prejudices, is something we strongly disagree with.

Unfortunately our appeal against this decision has been unsuccessful. Given that Gal*Gun: Double Peace did receive classification in Germany, we’re doubly disappointed that we cannot bring the highly-anticipated title to our fans in Germany. However, we will have to accept and respect the decision of the USK.

Gal Gun 2 releases on PS4 and Switch on March 15th in Japan and April 27th in Europe and North America.

UPDATE: This discussion has garnered a lot of discussion regarding censorship in Germany and GBAtemp resident member @Uwabami has made a clear and consise post that looks to address some misinformation being thrown around. If you are interested in German censorship I recommend taking the time to read their post on the subject! Thanks @Uwabami !

Uwabami's post on censorship in Germany
Source

 

[WeedZ]

Isn't it about keeping Nazi propaganda out of Germany? I may be wrong, but isn't anything related to the Nazi party illegal there? Such as performing Nazi salutes, brandishing swastikas, etc.. if so, Wolfenstein would fall under for obvious reasons.

 

[ut2k4master]

Isn't it about keeping Nazi propaganda out of Germany? I may be wrong, but isn't anything related to the Nazi party illegal there? Such as performing Nazi salutes, brandishing swastikas, etc.. if so, Wolfenstein would fall under for obvious reasons.

it is, with a few exceptions. movies like schindlers list and inglorious basterds still come out here uncut as they are considered art

 

[VitaType]

The way the current German government is censoring the media isn't much different than the regime they think they can erase from history. Are they going to start burning books in the streets again too?

That are some strong words from a person who differs between people and real/actual people ("It gave me a sense of foreboding and fear of these people (if you really could even call many of them that)." - Subtle Demise).
Also the amount of time the 3rd Reich and its causes take on the history curriculum compared to all that was before

Spoiler

(Prehistory, Germanic tribes/Roman Empire, Stem Duchies, Germanic migration period (Völkerwanderung), Frankish Empire, East Francia, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Germany, Hanseatic League, plague, Reformation, German Peasants' War, Thirty Years War, various Prussian kings, Age of Enlightenment, German Confederation, Industrialization period, North German Confederation (which is different from the German Confederation), German Empire (Kulturkampf, the whole first World War, ...) and that not even includes world history such as French Revolution and American Civil War)

and came after

Spoiler

(Post-war chaos period, East/West Germany, Ostpolitik, economic crisis of 1970s, reunifaction, (Merkelism))

and not to mention that the primary history channel here seems to be more of a WWII channel then anything else contradicts your idea that someone tries to erase history (at leat no one in power, guess if you search enough you always find some idiots).

 

[YTElias]

I think Germany needs some freedom.

I think so too

 

[NicoAICP]

We definitely need more freedom. But I don't care anymore cause I'm planning to leave Germany since a year or so

 

[SonicfanCEMUTesting]

Germany didn't liked that you're shooting young cute anime girls.

 

[Purple_Heart]

i dont really care about my shitty homecounty anymore. 3-4 years more...then i am moving to another country (Japan is my plan)

 

[stanleyopar2000]

Germany is why COD WW2 has a stupid red Baron cross for the axis powers and a non German sounding announcer. (Yet the in-game chatter call outs sounds German)

So....Thanks for that G

 

[ut2k4master]

Germany is why COD WW2 has a stupid red Baron cross for the axis powers and a non German sounding announcer. (Yet the in-game chatter call outs sounds German)

So....Thanks for that G

yeeeeeah, no. thats not how it works

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i dont really care about my shitty homecounty anymore. 3-4 years more...then i am moving to another country (Japan is my plan)

overreacting much?

 

[sarkwalvein]

overreacting much?

Perhaps then he will complain about blocky porn and who knows what other idiotic BS they usually ban/make hard in Japan.
Every place has it pros and cons, I guess someone is painting some country rose colored in their mind.

PS: Yeah, I am lazy and I am using a Spanish idiom translated literally to English, deal with it . (lazyness, just guess the meaning, whatever, not so far from "rose-tinted glasses" anyway...)

 

[DarkRioru]

this game is on switch... great.. another game that is portable that I can't play in public...

 

[tbb043]

And nothing of value was lost.

Except Germany's dignity, banning games, what cucks, (the gov, not people)

 

[ut2k4master]

Except Germany's dignity, banning games, what cucks, (the gov, not people)

except its not banned and the government isnt involved

 

[the_randomizer]

Except Germany's dignity, banning games, what cucks, (the gov, not people)

Nothing of value was lost seeing this weeb/waifu game banned.

 

[DJPlace]

ok that's fucked up....

 

[FAST6191]

except its not banned and the government isnt involved

Technically that is correct.

However it appears the USK is an industry body being some kind of government recognised and working in accordance with state laws*. Industry bodies only really get set up when a government rattles a sabre.

Equally it appears this is one of those occasions where denied classification is otherwise de facto banned -- are distributors, advertisers or retailers going to do their thing for this with this hanging over their head?

*from their own page http://www.usk.de/en/

It is the officially recognized institution responsible for the classification of computer and video games in Germany in accordance with the Children and Young Persons Protection Act (JuSchG) as well as for online contents in accordance with the Youth Media Protection State Agreement (JMStV).

Nothing of value was lost seeing this weeb/waifu game banned.

That is not a good line of argument. We could either go for a "first they came" but that might be a bit on the nose so instead I will go with consider the reasoning behind the "I may not agree with what you are saying, however I will fight to the death for your right to say it" phrase.

I don't doubt we could probably both find agreement as to the enjoyability of the game but do we in turn want to see things shut down for seemingly no good reason?

 

[Uwabami]

I'm a little late to to party, but I'm shocked that even Germans in this thread got their info wrong, the only one who knew what he's talking about was @ut2k4master. The Wolfenstein censorship was widely discussed in German media and among legal experts - I've attached some German language articles to to end of my post. Sorry, I couldn't find any accurate English ones - maybe you can try Google Translate.

It boils down to this: the depiction of "anti-constitutional symbols", as described in §86 StGB (the German criminal code) is allowed in the context of education, news and art. The crux of the matter is that computer games were not considered art for a long time by German law and were classified as toys instead. This meant that in the Indiana Jones movies for instance, there were all the swastikas and even Hitler himself, just like in the US version, because movies and literature were always considered art. The computer games to the movies, however, were censored.

A lot has changed since, and all legal experts I heard from (cited in the articles below) agree that Bethesda could've released an uncensored Wolfenstein in Germany. In fact, most were critical of Bethesda for crippeling a Nazi-critical game and making dumb changes to it. One article (Spiegel Online) is even more critical of Bethesda for not using their financial power and the platform a big game like Wolfenstein has to challenge the status quo, because there are smaller indy studios who can't afford to do so. It's the general consensus that the practice would change if anyone would challenge it it court.

Why is this related to Gal Gun 2? The USK hasn't published their reasons yet (to my knowledge), but the commenters in this German forum specializing in German censorship are pretty certain it's because of the way minors are depicted in it: https://www.schnittberichte.com/news.php?ID=13008 (again, German only - sorry). German law is pretty strict on risqué content involving minors, according to §184c StGB it doesn't matter if the depiction is of actual people or just "realistic". So the refusal by the USK to rate Gal Gun 2 was likely because of this.

The decisions by USK are sometimes stupid, though I generally agree with their guidelines. Also: a refusal by the USK to grant a rating is not a ban. It merely means games without a rating can't be advertised or sold in places "accessible to minors". There are stores in every city specializing in games like this. It is also not illegal to own such a game. A game may only be banned (and in severe cases even confiscated) if the USK refuses to rate it. In this case, the Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors (BPjM) can decide if this should be done, but only if someone petitions them to do so (they can't start the process on their own). This is happening less and less these days, in part because some people are using the infamous "toxic list" as a shopping list .

I hope I was able to clear up some misconceptions about German censorship. There is no revisionism, I dare say German youth is better informed about our history than young people anywhere else. We take our responsibility for our past seriously. As I stated before, depiction of "anti-constitutional" symbols is not illegal in the context of education, news and art - or (as attested in court), if used in a nazi-critical way. Free speech is limited where the honor of others is concerned (so you can't spread insults and falsehoods about other people) and the denial of the holocaust is - like in most european countries - a criminal offense. I know people from the US see this as a "unbearable" limitation of free speech, but from our perspective what you consider free speech is hate speech. It's a cultural difference and I guess both approaches have their ups and downs, but personally, I don't want election smear campaigns like the US has.

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/game...-es-muss-sich-nur-einer-trauen-a-1177427.html
https://www.schnittberichte.com/news.php?ID=13008
https://www.br.de/radio/bayern2/sen...nstein-the-new-colossus-nazis-skandal100.html
https://www.wired.de/collection/life/bethesda-ist-bei-wolfenstein-mit-der-zensur-zu-weit-gegangen
http://www.gamestar.de/artikel/wolfenstein-2-hakenkreuz-verbot-ist-ein-irrglaube,3322561.html

 

[Captain_N]

Hot damn, that's a shame. I'm kinda looking forward to this on the Switch, here's hoping it gets to the UK without issue. Ordering from a different region is always a pain.

So what if its banned. how does that shop you? those who want it are gonna get it one way or another
I have never had a problem ordering from vendors that import on amazon... you can just get the digital version by making a different region account. option 3 is the switch modchip...... when its released....

 

[Purple_Heart]

i am not overreacting. i only hate the censorship. Games like Doom and other shit are allowed. but Gal Gun banned?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

but fck it. i am importing it so its not that bad, but its silly (i hope GG2 will not have DLC..otherwise i need a new account)

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

but the dumb thing is Gale Gun Double Piece is rated 16 in germany....why is GG2 Banned? WTF.... that is my question

 

[WiiUBricker]

I'm not from Germany but if a game is banned there can you be jailed for importing a foreign version of the game?

No. It’s not illegal to own or buy a banned game. If a game is banned, that just means that it can’t be sold in public there, like in a store or online shops. You can still import it and get it “under the table” if you know the right places