News

Red blood, smoking and swears cut from South Korean StarCraft II
Posted: 21.05.2010 13:34 by Simon Priest Comments: 3
Blizzard has been forced to release an edited version of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty after the original got slapped with an adults-only rating.

Now blood is black, not red, and all references to smoking and cuss words are gone. This edited copy gets an Age 12 rating, with Blizz happy.

"Since StarCraft II was originally developed to be a game adolescents could enjoy, we're very pleased with the Game Rating Board's decision," Blizzard said, reports 1UP. The studio is considering putting both editions on sale in South Korea.

StarCraft is a huge deal in the Korean nation with an entire e-sports market worth huge money operating annually, with players given celebrity status. Recently though the entire profession has been rocked with a gambling scandal over rigged matches.

At least 16 people have been arrested with top players and officials involved. Should more studios simply release both an 'adolescent friendly' edition alongside an adult-only one if ratings boards kick up a stink?

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty releases exclusively on PC July 27th.

Comments

By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on May 22, 2010
herodotus
Now if that was Australia they probably wouldn't offer an edited version. However, as Starcratft is a sport and televised event in Sth. Korea the rules change. What Blizz don't realise is that the hard-core Stracraft players won't easily migrate to SCII.
By noobst3R (SI Core) on May 22, 2010
noobst3R
^this.
By Kres (SI Elite) on May 23, 2010
Kres
Yeah starcraft is sort of a religion in S. Korea. Not sure of N. Korea as we don't get much news from there are we? Anyway, no wonder about this move.