Dev urges Ozzie fans to pirate Hotline Miami 2

Despite having an adults-only rating, there are still some games that the Australian classification board simply won’t touch with a ten foot pole. Yesterday that happened to be Hotline Miami 2, after a particularly graphic sexual assault scene got the game banned in Australia. That’s fine with the creators though, who suggest piracy as a means to still play the game.

Jonatan Söderströmm, co-creator of Hotline Miami, has stated that any Australians wanting to play Hotline Miami have full permission to pirate the game.

“If it ends up not being released in Australia,” he wrote, “just pirate it after release. No need to send us any money, just enjoy the game!”

This response came after an Australian fan directly emailed Söderströmm to ask about other ways to obtain a copy now that it had been banned down under.

Developers Dennaton Games and publisher Devolver Digital have no plans to appeal the Australian Ratings Board decision, but are quick to point out that the decision to ban the game was wrong, and that the scene in question has been grossly misinterpreted. Firstly, players are given the option to skip the scene at the beginning of the game, similar to the “No Russian” mission in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 2.

Devolver also feels that the ratings board stretched the facts in terms of what the scene actually depicted

First, to clear up any possible misconceptions, the opening cinematic that was first shown in June of 2013 has not changed in any way. We also want to make clear that players are given a choice at the start of the game as to whether they wish to avoid content that alludes to sexual violence. The sequence in question is presented below in context, both after choosing the uncut version of the game and after choosing to avoid content that alludes to sexual violence.

Second, in response to the report itself, we are concerned and disappointed that a board of professionals tasked with evaluating and judging games fairly and honestly would stretch the facts to such a degree and issue a report that describes specific thrusting actions that are not simply present in the sequence in question and incorrectly portrays what was presented to them for review.

An extract from the Ratings Board description of the scene implies a lot more detail

He is viewed pinning the female down by the arms and lying on top of her thrusting, implicitly raping her (either rear entry or anally) while her legs are viewed kicking as she struggles beneath him.

Devolver also supplied a video of the scene in question, showing how it plays out when players choose to either view the extreme content or not. Viewer discretion is advised.

Now the scene is still incredible disturbing, but I can see where Devolver and Dennaton are coming from. Its wholly lacking much of the detail that the Australian Ratings Board describes, which makes you wonder if they actually classified the game correctly. I still wouldn’t hold them against a ban for the content above, but at the very least the report must be accurate and fair.

Either way, it doesn’t look like it’ll be that hard for any Australian to get their hands on Hotline Miami 2, which is apparently coming out “very soon”.

Last Updated: January 16, 2015