Yes, it looks like the Boogeyman won’t be coming home this year to Australia.
Halloween: The Game has officially been refused classification in Australia, meaning the upcoming game cannot be legally sold there or in New Zealand. And before you start thinking the Australian Classification Board finally decided that letting players run around as Michael Myers hacking up Haddonfield residents was perhaps a bit much, think again.
It wasn’t the murder.
It wasn’t the violence.
It wasn’t Michael fucking Myers.
It was drugs.
One Australian fan apparently noticed that Halloween: The Game was nowhere to be found on the Australian PlayStation 5 store and decided to ask the developers what the hell was going on. The answer was not exactly what anyone expected. The Halloween: The Game team confirmed on social media that the game had effectively been banned in Australia and New Zealand after being refused classification over the inclusion of a controlled substance.
Yep. A controlled substance. Apparently Michael Myers stalking victims through Haddonfield wasn’t the problem. It was the drugs.
So, to recap:
Michael Myers stalking people through Haddonfield?
Fine.
Brutal murders?
Apparently fine.
A masked psychopath committing a bloody massacre?
Come on in, Michael.
Someone lighting up a virtual joint for a gameplay boost?
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Australia has had video games refused classification over drug use tied to gameplay incentives before, so this isn’t completely unprecedented. Games including Wasteland 3, Sludge Life and State of Decay have previously run into classification problems over drug mechanics, although some titles have subsequently received altered versions or successfully appealed their decisions.
For Halloween: The Game, however, IllFonic has indicated that it will not challenge the ruling. The developer has pulled the game from preorders in the affected markets, meaning Australian and New Zealand players who already placed orders will need to seek refunds. That freaking blows!
And that means our Australian correspondent Rhiannon Elizabeth Irons has a few words for the people responsible, and if you know her as we do, she is NOT happy about this.
“Send a complaint to the Australian Classification Board over their bullshit ruling.”
We totally agree with this level of frustration and anger. You have games like GTA 5 which was highly edited for Australia but was still released and the whole plot there is to steal other peoples cars to traffic either guns, money, or both around the city. That sounds a bit more “corruption of the youth” than a little joint could ever do but we’re not Australia so we have no real say in the matter.
Halloween: The Game is scheduled to launch Sept. 8 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, but Australian and New Zealand players won’t be joining Michael Myers for his return to Haddonfield unless something changes with the classification decision.
And while Australia has every right to determine what gets classified and sold within its borders, there is something undeniably hilarious about the fact that a game centered around one of horror’s most famous murder machines apparently ran into its biggest problem because somebody decided the virtual drugs were the real line in the sand.
The Boogeyman can stay.
Just hide the weed.