Ubisoft have today confirmed that the European version of South Park: The Stick of Truth will be censored across all formats. This news follows a recent announcement that changes were made to the Australian version of the game in response to advice from the age ratings Classification Board in that country.
The EMEA-region version (which includes the UK) will now be voluntarily edited by the game’s publishers to remove scenes that contain abortions and anal probing. Ubisoft have stated that these edits were made as the result of an internal marketing decision and not at the request of the Pan European Game Information Board (PEGI). The North American version of the game remains unaffected and will still be released uncut.
The edited scenes will each be replaced by “an image background and a description text selected by Matt Stone and Trey Parker”. Whilst censorship isn’t something that I personally endorse or agree with, it’s highly possible that the South Park creators will use this opportunity to poke fun at the forcible restrictions on video game content that have now become commonplace in countries such as Germany and Australia.
South Park: The Stick of Truth is due for release on the 7th of March 2014 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.