DayZ finally gets rated in Australia

A new listing on the Australian Classification Board website has confirmed DayZ has finally been rated in Australia.

Whilst it’s unclear what, exactly, has been revised in the game, it was enough to see the title secure an MA15+ rating earlier this week, intimating drug references may have been scrubbed from the modified version (thanks, Kotaku).

Following the classification refusal that saw the game banned from sale in Australia, Bohemia Interactive confirmed last week it would revise all global versions of DayZ to get it released in Australia. The Australian Classification Board stated at the time that “illicit or prescribed drug use related to incentives” was enough to prevent the physical version of the game from receiving a classification. The Board also went on to withdraw the digital game from sale across the territory, too.

At the time, the ACB said: “Throughout general gameplay, the player is able to collect and use a variety of equipment, supplies and weaponry, with one option to restore the player’s health being a marijuana joint, labelled “cannabis,” which is denoted by a cannabis bud in the player’s inventory. The player is able to select and use it when their vital statistics are low. When the player smokes the cannabis, their vital statistics of food and water increase and their temperature decreases.

“Therefore, in the opinion of the Classification Board, cannabis use during the game acts as an incentive or reward to boost overall health and survivability. The Board noted that there was no instance of intoxication resulting from this drug use depicted within the game.”

The studio responded by saying: “We love that DayZ is the place to meet with friends and experience the game without dramatic regional lag. We don’t want to change that.

“At the moment, we are editing the global version of DayZ so it will fit into the Board’s requirements,” it added. “The key objective is to keep the gameplay as authentic as it was, so players are not affected by this change.”