Bethesda successfully appeals German Fallout 3 ban

Having been banned in 2009, Bethesda has successfully overturned Fallout 3’s German ban.

IGN reports that Bethesda "initiated a difficult and rarely-successful trial" with the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Minors (BPjM) to de-list the title ahead of the end of its statutory ten year sentence. Doing so would have cost it ‘several thousand Euros’ and involved presenting evidence to a delegate of German officials.

"In the case of Fallout 3 the request for de-listing was granted even though only seven years passed since the game was banned," the BPjM said. "The Big Council decided at its meeting on February 4th that Fallout 3 will be removed from the list because its content is no longer classified as harmful to minors from today’s perspective."

The question, of course, is why did Bethesda bother? And the most obvious answer is that it’s planning a re-release for the game, quite possibly on PS4 and Xbox One.

When pressed on this question, Bethesda said it would be able to provide an answer in a couple of weeks”.