A groundbreaking move has just announced by the German USK rating system, in that it will
no longer require publishers to make sure that their games contain no Nazi symbols to
be allowed to be given a rating.
Up until now, all publishers were made to confirm that their games do not contain any
swastikas and other nazi insignia upon submitted their games and, if they couldn't confirm
this, then the games wouldn't be allowed to be submitted.
Now, all of that changes, as has been confirmed in a German post on the USK website.
This doesn't necessarily mean that all games containing nazi imagery will now be allowed
in Germany though, but it means that they will be investigated on a case by case basis,
rather than being outright refused.
The reason for the change in decision seems to have stemmed from multiple developments
in Germany recently.
The first of these appears to be the Wolfenstein II video that Censored Gaming made late last
year, which compared the English version of the game with the German version, and how,
amongst other changes, the German version completely removed Hitler's moustache.
This then went on to make international news all over the globe, appearing on most big
general news websites and starting a big discussion over in Germany amongst the general public
as well as industry figures.
For many non-gamers over in Germany, this opened their eyes to a practise that they
simply weren't aware about.
Other developments include the historically accurate educational game Attentat 1942 being
blocked in Germany earlier in the year for the same reasons.
Rather than just accepting this though, the developers took action and started contacting
lawyers and holding meetings about German censorship in games.
And then lastly, there's also just the growing dissociation between the current state of
things and then what originally caused things to be the way today - this being a court case
from way back in 1998, where a German high court ruled that Wolfenstein 3D couldn't be
released with the nazi symbols intact.
However, the court didn't consider a clause in the legal code, which allows this imagery
for purposes such as art and teaching.
This same clause is the reason why movies are allowed to be released in Germany with
no issues.
Movies are consider art, yet for games, them being art or not wasn't even considered.
Alongside this, 1998 was a very long time ago now and much has changed both for videos
games, as well as German law.
Video games are now much more like movies than they used to be back in the 90s.
Public perception has also shifted drastically from the days of Pac-Man and Donkey Kong,
where games were commonly viewed as only 'toys' - especially amongst parents and non-gamers.
On the legal side, we have things like the USK ratings not being legally enforceable
back in 1998, but this is something that got changed in 2003.
Legal experts have consistently argued that if a court was to look into the issue again,
the decision would come out differently, yet for this to happen a publisher would have
to attempt to submit their game unaltered and then go through the long and likely expensive
legal process - something that no company so far has been willing to do.
In fact, public prosecutors decided to not investigate a browser-based parody game that
used a swastika earlier this year - citing the clause that allows this imagery to be
used for things such as art purposes.
This marked the first ever time an Attorney General’s Public Prosecutor’s Office has
decided to not investigate a possible violation of these laws.
As for what will happen next, this remains to be seen and it's important to keep in mind
that this change doesn't automatically allow publishers to release games in Germany showing
whatever they want.
The German Games Industry Association speaks about the exact legal clause over on their
website, saying: "When games that depict symbols of unconstitutional
organisations are submitted to the USK for an age rating, the USK committees can now
assess them on a case-by-case basis to decide whether the ‘social adequacy clause’ applies.
In this context, ‘social adequacy’ means that symbols of unconstitutional organisations
can be used in games in individual cases, as long as those symbols serve an artistic
or scientific purpose, or depict current or historical events.
Previously, this assessment was not carried out for games – only for other media such
as film.
The change is the result of a new interpretation of the applicable law by the Supreme Youth
Protection Authority of the Federal States based on current legal assessments."
Baker McKenzie from Lexology.com suggests that this may mean certain games may still
run into issues in Germany, such as 2009's skate 2.
In the article he says: "Nevertheless, it should be noted that there
are also some games which will most likely not be able to obtain a rating even after
the change of the USK practice.
An example would be the video game skate 2 (2009) which is a typical skateboarding game
and was rated USK 12 in Germany.
However, for the German release some symbols (a sig rune) which are displayed on the clothes
and skateboards of some of the included skateboarders had to be removed.
The sig rune was included in the game as it is the company logo of a popular US skateboarding
firm whose skateboarders are featured in the game.
However, using unconstitutional symbols on toys and clothes is exactly what the German
criminal law on unconstitutional symbols intents to prevent.
Thus it is unlikely that games like skate 2 will be classified by the USK."
All of this remains to be seen though and the fact that Nazi imagery is no longer blocked
outright is a huge move.
It also seems that the USK are very on-board the notion of making sure the social adequacy
clause will be fairly taken into account when examining games and that that games are now
finally being treated much more like movies are over in Germany,
Another important point to keep in mind is that this should also lead to less games being
censored worldwide to avoid any issues over in Germany.
You may recall for instance how Call of Duty: WW2 removed any offending symbols worldwide
during multiplayer, due to the German issue.
This should now no longer be necessary.
As always, Censored Gaming will be sure to keep a close eye on any new developments and
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Until next time, thank you for watching.