Hmmm, five ladies in a room and one very disinterested dude — somebody call the Russian authorities!
That’s right — if you want to buy EA and Maxis’ latest innocuous life sim and you live in Russia you’d better bring ID, because the The Sims 4 has been rated 18+ in that country. Whoa, really? Is Russia getting a special version of the game with ungarbled Simlish and no pixelation over the Sim butts? Unfortunately no.
The Sims 4 has run afoul of Russian law 436-FZ. You know, the law that prohibits anything “harmful to the health and development of children” (a list that includes same-sex relationships). This is the law that basically allows the Russian government to shut down any sort of gay demonstration or protest, because, you know, a Russian child’s eyes might accidentally see a rainbow flag and explode.
The Sims has made same-sex relationships possible ever since the first game back in the year 2000, which is kind of surprising since the series has never really been the subject of any controversy of backlash. Probably because most straight Sims players didn’t even realize same-sex relationships were a part of the game, and if they did they didn’t get upset about it, because why would you? Not trying to tell you how to run your country, but when you’re acting less reasonably then American gamers from the early 2000s, you’ve got a problem Russia.
But hey, don’t feel too bad about underage Russian Sims fans — this is Russia we’re talking about here. I’m fairly certain nobody has walked into a brick-and-mortar store and purchased a video game there, like, ever.
via VG24/7