After the Australian Classification Board refused to classify the upcoming fighting game based on the titular manga, the game will probably be banned before its launch.
Bad news for fans of Hunter X Hunter Nen X Impact looking forward to play the new game based on the anime of Gon Freeccs his friends and enemies – at least when they are living in Australia. The Australian Classification Board has refused to classicy the game, technically banning it in the country.
Hunter X Hunter Nen X Impact
The game is an upcoming fighting game developed by Eighting. It will be published by Bushiroad Games in Japan and by Arc System Works worldwide and is planned to be launched in 2025 with no more concrete date.
The 2.5D fighting game will be released on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam and feature 3 v 3 tag team combat, a lot of combo attacks and characters from the manga and anime like Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Leorio, Hisoka, Machi, Biski, Meruem and many more.
Banned in Australia
According to the Australian Classification Board website the game has been classified as ‘RC’ or ‘Refused Classification’ with no further reason or explanation to this decision – but has asked fans to contact them for more clarification on this decision.
In a statement to Polygon, they explained, that the classification of Hunter X Hunter Nen X Impact was due to “a visual depiction of implied sexual violence, where an adult male exposes himself to persons under the age of 18 years".
The Australian Classification Board added:
The Board noted in its report that the implied sexual violence is implicitly condoned as appropriate due to a lack of resolution of the act through the game’s narrative and that it is not justified by context. Implied sexual violence that is visually depicted, interactive, not justified by context, or related to incentives or rewards is not permitted.
Whether or not the "ban" is justified or not, nowadays there is almost now way to fully exclude a country from playing a certain game, so people who really want to enjoy Hunter X Hunter Nen X Impact will probably find a way to do so.
What are your thoughts on this non-classification? Do you think the game deserved this treatment?