You had a barrier of entry with having to make an American account and got a gift card for US based accounts on PSN network Where anyone who played it was shamed about purchasing a game that had homos in it for a while I think Some Games that people where really looking into getting where banned and super dispointed that homo where a thing in the game, most recent example I could think of is the last of us part 2. Hope that kinda makes sense!Īlso you could count the middle east too, since homo is a red line in here. Alas, the way things are going there, it's only up to the people there to try and seek social reform, because otherwise the state will interpret any outside efforts as a personal attack on their country/values. While, to my memory, the base game copy I played back there DID allow gay relationships, the marketing and the wedding theme for this particular pack could potentially give somebody an impression that it's propagating the "love is love" message, which doesn't fit into the governments vision of Russian values.ĭoes it suck? Yes! Many Russians love weddings, and they are very fun events that the Simmers there would've loved to experience (I know I AM!!).
For me as a "queer girl gamer from Russia" there's no winning in this situation, no matter which way it goes.Īs a Russian myself (playing in Canada, thankfully), I completely understand and respect their decision, here's why:īasically, there is a federal law that labels certian topics as "propaganda" (aka Western values and social influences), and those topics are restricted for anyone under the age of 18. I am sorry for a wall of text instead of clear cut answer, but unfortunately there is none. If anything, our government would parade "protecting citizens from harmful media" or something along these lines. This will not happen until laws change.ĭoes EA's message put any pressure on lawmakers here? Nah. To play same games, to have same representation in media, to marry the person I love. In the end what I would love to have is equal rights. Trying to put their best face and earn some good reputation points since they will be losing some sales anyway. So what I am personally seeing in EA's message is performative activism. My best guess is they ran into conflict with some sort of censorship law here and could not resolve it. If they could release the pack here, they would have.
To add insult to the injury EA is a huge money hungry corporation that is not best known for having good ethics. If it were, why is it banned JUST in Russia? As others mentioned the game is being sold in plenty other countries known for their animosity towards lgbtq+. I don't believe not releasing the pack here is EA's decision, to be honest. Living in a world where the very existence of people who are just like me has to be censored hurts like hell. Do I think it would be allowed if EA would censor trailer / in game families? Yeap.ĭo I want them to censor trailer? Nope.