The Australian Classification Board has announced that, following a successful appeal by publisher Gearbox, Compulsion Games' psychedelic dystopian adventure We Happy Few will now receive a R 18+ classification, enabling the game to be sold in the country.
Back in May, We Happy Few was in Australia, effectively banning it from sale, after it fell foul of the ratings board's strict policies on drug use in games. The board claimed that its drug-use mechanic, which can make progress easier in some circumstances, "constitutes an incentive or reward for drug-use and therefore, the game exceeds the R 18+ classification that states, 'drug use related to incentives and rewards is not permitted'".
In response, Compulsion Games noted that We Happy Few's "overarching social commentary is no different than Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, or Terry Gilliam's Brazil", highlighting that the game unfolds in a world where use of the drug Joy is mandated by the authorities, and that "the whole point of the game is to reject this programming and fight back".