A few days ago Kotaku reported that the Australian Classification Board had done that thing again which they're absolutely bloody notorious for. Inexplicably banning some game.

This time an indie PC sci-fi construction and simulation game called Rimworld which they had previously approved and which had been available and played here for four years in full release. Another five before that in early access.

Previously unannounced, the developers are working on a console port and that brought it again to the attention of our board.

Who this time dropped the ban hammer on it.

Curiously the link to the ban notification returns:

You are not authorized to access this page error.

Even more curious, a search of their database for Rimworld returned two results, neither for developer and publisher Ludeon Studios.

An image of the ban has been posted on Reddit.

PC Gamer expressed confidence that the ban wouldn't affect the PC version but when we attempted to visit its Steam page, we got:

This item is currently unavailable in your region

Through its Wikipedia entry we found a developer announcement about the ban but on Steam.

Where Australians can't see it because it's attached to the game blocked by the ban... unless they resort to a little bit of internet trickery.

Which we did, so have copied it below for our readers.

RimWorld removed from sale in Australia on Steam, existing owners unaffected

Saturday March 5, 2022

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately, we've just been informed that RimWorld has just been made unavailable for new purchases by Australian customers on Steam.

This does not seem to affect existing owners - it only prevents new purchases. Anyone who already owns the game is still be able to play, receive updates and access community features like the forums and workshop. The Ideology and Royalty expansions are also not affected.

We don't have a ton of information about this since it just happened within the last few hours, it's Friday evening, and most people we could ask are not at work.

From the info we have, this happened because a few days ago, the Australian Classification Board classified a potential console version of RimWorld as “Refused Classification (RC)”, meaning it can't be sold in Australia.

We did not expect this to affect the Steam version because in previous similar cases, as with Disco Elysium for example, an RC rating on a console version did not affect the availability of the PC version on Steam. We're not sure why this decision was made in RimWorld's case.

I'm sorry this news was so sudden and for anyone who is frustrated by this. We are working to resolve this situation and make RimWorld available to everyone again as soon as possible, but we don’t yet know what that might require or how long it may take.

Thanks for your understanding everyone.

- Ty

Is this just more of the Board's infamous general insanity or some deliciously new variety?

Kotaku note that since the game's launch and original classification, drugs and a religious belief system have been added.

Drug bans we've seen before so that wouldn't be new. But as the developers note, in previous cases the Board hasn't reversed an earlier approval of a PC game when they've failed a console port.

So there's a faint whiff of deliciously new.

Drugs intersect with their religion system as either "prohibited, limited to medical and social use, or essential."

Could be something related to that.

Hopefully they won't keep us in suspense too long.

[ Main Image: RimWorld - Royalty DLC. Credit: Ludeon Studios via Steam. ]

References

PlayerZeroFour (March 1, 2022). We’re no longer legal in Australia! Reddit.

Prescott, Shaun (March 1, 2022). Australia, but it probably won't affect PC. PC Gamer.

Rimworld Wiki. Drugs. (viewed March 6, 2022)

Rimworld Wiki. Ideoligion. (viewed March 6, 2022)

Rimworld WIki. Ideology (DLC). (viewed March 6, 2022)

Smith, David (March 1, 2022). A Console Version Of RimWorld Appears To Have Been Refused Classification In Australia. Kotaku.

Sylvestor, Tynan (March 5, 2022). RimWorld removed from sale in Australia on Steam, existing owners unaffected. Steam. (inaccessible on March 6, 2022)

Steam. RimWorld. (inaccessible on March 6, 2022)

Wikipedia. List of banned video games in Australia. (viewed March 6, 2022)

Wikipedia. Rimworld. (viewed March 6, 2022)