South Park: The Stick of Truth Delayed in Germany and Austria

South Park: The Stick of Truth Delayed in Germany and Austria

55
Lee Bradley

The German and Austrian versions of South Park: The Stick of Truth have been delayed, seemingly due to the presence of swastikas in the game.

Such imagery is prohibited in both Germany and Austria, but it appears that the copies shipped to those countries still included the content.

"The German and Austrian version of South Park: The Stick of Truth contains a symbol of an unconstitutional organization, whereupon we stopped the distribution of the game and unfortunately will not be able to release it as initially planned on March 6th 2014 on the German and Austrian market," reads a statement provided to VideoGamer. "This concerns all versions/platforms of the game.

"We are extremely sorry for the additional waiting time this will mean for the fans of the game. A new release date of South Park: The Stick of Truth for the German and Austrian market will be announced shortly. We invite customers who have pre-ordered the game to liaise directly with their retailers, who will keep them updated on the new release date.”

South Park: The Stick of Truth on console was also the subject of cuts in the rest of Europe. You can read more on that, and its impact on the game, in our review.

Comments
55
  • Sucks for them ones.
  • some users got an uncensored version. Ubisoft used an US master. it seems PS3 users can play this version. since the xbox version has a region lock it cannot be played without modifying the console. that's what i have heared.
  • No problem for german/austrian gamers, the UK Version should be uncensored and can be imported.
  • Yet another reason why I'm glad I live in America.
  • but isnt the uk version also censored? @4 hm.....
  • i find it very ironic that Germany always has these problems lol
  • yes. all european versions are censored. the german/austrian version was the only uncensored version (by mistake).
  • Surely Ubisoft has been publishing games to germany for long enough to know about such restrictions ?
  • Censor something that wasn't required and then forget something that was. Stupid tits.
  • its censored because of our history(the swastikas, not the anal scenes ;))
  • @9. Talk about creating a shit storm
  • Censoring imagery such as swastikas encourages the German people to forget the past. Nazi Germany was a dark and evil time for Germany and the rest of the world. Forgetting it is the first step to it happening again.
  • @12 i can tell you thats not the case. its allowed to show it in movies. its just censored because its in a "bad" or "wrong" context.
  • Germany can never undo the past. The Nazi past will always exist, and quite frankly it's an interesting piece of history. Why hide such educational history? Bad or not, we still know of it. Chernobyl was a bad piece of history, yet we see it in movies and video games.
  • #4 Stop bring jerk suck balls. Doesn't matter where people live in but it is happened and yes it is suck when censored in Europe and Australia. But you don't have say this and you making yourself look like wet pant. Just zip your mouth. Respect plz.
  • i can understand why non-german people think how they think. but the problem is there is still a (neo)nazi influence in germany and its forbidden to show swastikas to let the people know its still a big deal its like a reminder. the fear is that if you could show and see swastikas "everywhere" that it gets kind of normal.. i think you cant compare chernobyl with the third reich....
  • Not being funny, if ya look back at Nazi history, Germany was the first country to be invaded by the Nazis. I'm English before you think I'm German. ot. I think that censored content is bullshit, if the game is a 18 then why bother.
  • @9 oh the irony! I love it; stupid bastards at ubisoft really dropped the ball on this one.
  • Is there anyway to get an uncensored copy in the UK. I really resent paying to Ubisoft to support such censoring.
  • "invaded"?? your never too old for propaganda(not saying south park is) but seeing this symbol in a funny humoristic context could lead you in a wrong way @18 whats so bad about beeing german?
  • If I remember correctly, the game was already passed through the censorship bored in australia… why did they change their minds?
  • it was censored because of the alien-anal scenes. the problem in germany and austria is that its forbidden to show swastikas.
  • @20 the pc version is uncensored but like you I wanna return the shafting to Ubisoft so I cancelled my pre order and will wait for a second hand copy so they don't get jack from me
  • austria not australia
  • @all who dont understand this: it's not allowed to draw swasticas in germany, not forget the past, it's just an easy way to punish neo nazis and prevent them... i mean a law against slavery isn't there to forget it happened, it's just there to prevent
  • now, call me out on this cos i don't know if i'm right.... but why are people hating on Ubisoft? surely this kind of thing is not decided by the publishers, is it not just down to the given country's censoring people? (whatever they may be called, Censory Board, or some shit) so surely they are the ones we should be pissed at?
  • Is censoring okay ? Ubi the judge.
  • ubisoft censored the analscens and some others in the european version because they feared it COULD be forbidden the swastikas are a german/austrian only "problem" but i dont think they take away much from the game!? @26 correct
  • I guess one thing I brought out of this, is no matter what anyone thinks about Sony and PS their strategy is way better with no region locks on any of their games (Save for Japan and not due to censorship I believe, but could be wrong?)
  • I'll probably get thumbed down for this as well, but why did #4 get so many negative votes? He's happy he lives in American because he doesn't have to deal with censorship. What's wrong with that? I feel like this is the same double-standard of the race card. You can be proud to be black, but you can't be proud to be white THAT'S RACIST! Calm down, guys. He's happy he doesn't have to deal with censorship, that's all. He never said the countries in question here were lesser countries or anything like that. Being proud of something does not automatically mean you look down on something else.
  • @32 Actually I find it quite ironical to see someone writing he's proud to live in america because there's no censorship when the whole country turns against Janet Jackson for showing a breast. I didn't vote him down and I do understand your point of view. But believing US is free of censorship is kinda naive. I don't think there's a single country in the world that applies absolutely NO censorship. And there's also another problem. He's indeed proud to be american, and I have nothing against that. The problem comes from the fact that 9 times out of 10, this comment is completed by some stupid statement like "Europe is retarded" or whatever. Due to us being used to it, I think we complete the sentence in our mind even if it wasn't in the guy's intention. That's one of the (many) problems of the Internet.
  • @16 there might a (neo)nazi influence in germany. but there are probably more nazis in the US. and that does not seem to be a big deal for the people...like in American History X.
  • @27 actually, I know exactly what irony is. I'm this instance it is situational irony. I know you are just trying to look smart, but you just look like a jackass. Now shut your pie hole.
  • @21 i have no problem with being German, I'm just not. That's all i was saying. Most people would think I was because of my comment.
  • @32 O come on you know why. This site is mostly European and everyone hates America. Since he said he was glad, everyone hates him. The only Americans people like are self haters. @32 Pretty much everything is censored in some way. In the US television and radio(lol) are heavily censored, but what that user could have said is at least there is not a total ban on anything. With the right rating and format, anything can pretty much be shown. Even hardcore sex games are allowed they just get an AO rating. Just so happens the big three console companies refuse to allow AO games, so PC only. Violence is pretty much okay in any form in the US, and Swastikas are fine too. US has some of the lowest levels of censorship would have been a better way to say it originally.
  • AMERICA.. FU** YEAH!!
  • Swastikas being censored in germany... lol too little too late
  • Sigh... Buy a PC, play the game uncensored. The PC version of South Park is 100% censor free, except in Australia, and frankly, that version is the best since it has crying koala bears to censor the scenes.
  • @35 thats the problem ;) @37 ok @40 semi-funny...
  • Give the German/Austria Version it's own Achievement List with another 1000G and i forgive you @ Obsidian / Ubisoft
  • @42 lol
  • @31 You are literally on every article talking about Sony and how much "better" the PS4 is... Seriously why bother? @34 Janet Jackson exposed her breast (nudity) on a national broadcast. People watching did not have the "option" of seeing her breast or not. People buying a South Park game are choosing to expose themselves to graphic material. HUGE difference. On Topic: I think people are missing the the bigger picture here. The Nazi Party was just that... a political party. Blaming the whole of Germany for the actions of the Nazi Party is just ignorant plain and simple. I think this game getting special censorship in Germany has more to do with the fact that you *SPOILER* fight an aborted Nazi fetus *SPOILER* which has an achievement tied to it entitled "To Far" which just shows you the mentality behind this entire game to begin with... it is South Park after all... I mean come on
  • Its really sad that the decision as to what we can and cant view is still made by others.
  • Sad to see both the censorship and the delays for those it affects. When it comes to this kind of shit, I am glad I'm in the US. This is the only game I've played so far where I've laughed out loud. It's an interactive long ass South Park episode. I hope you guys get it soon.
  • Not true, got my german version 2 days ago from my local dealer.look at my gamercard. Its definetly the german version it has the usk18 singn on it.
  • ja die wurden ja auch ausgeliefert soweit ich weiß nur wurden die einzelhändler angehalten die spiele nicht zu verkaufen.. glück für dich amazon hat auch das erscheinungsdatum auf den 31. geändert..
  • I play on this game and can't stop laughing xD Great job.
  • @ 32 Well said, really well said. Screw the ever-present hip firing idiots who blindly thumb down comments. I am excited to play the game finally, and this German/Austrian delay is ridiculous. Foolish considering what the censors choose to focus on initially.
  • Well, the article seems to be kinda misleading, as the swastika ban in Austria is not the same as in Germany. Also, it's a very rare thing to have the same version of a censored game for both Germany and Austria, as Austria uses th PEGI classification whereas Germany uses USK. Wolfenstein 3D is available on the Austrian XBL marketplace, completely uncensored, including Hakenkreuze and pictures of Hitler. The same version of the game has been banned in Germany since 1994.
  • Austrian gamer here. I hate the german censorhip. In austria we do not have that. We like killing Nazis. Our way of dealing with the past is by accepting these are the bad guys, so making them the bad guys in games and shooting them is a good thing (simplied speaking). And yes, I know the "Guy" was born in austria and moved to germany when he realized with a few farmers in his homecountry he can't conquer europe. back to topic. We have to live with the german censorship for every game which is either not big (money speaking) enough, or is an 18+ game which has been cut, to have the austrian PEGI rating. So we have a lot of games twice on the market. PEGI and USK. Horrible...
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