Players in the Middle East looking to pick upThe Last of Us 2, the sequel to Naughty Dog’s zombie action-adventure game inspired by aterrifying real-life fungal parasite, may have some difficulties acquiring it. Various details suggest that the game won’t be getting an official release in certain Middle Eastern countries due to some of the game’s themes.
The first bits of news about this possible ban came from a Reddit user known as ‘ghostechful’, who asked PlayStation Support why they weren’t able to pre-orderThe Last of Us 2through the PlayStation Store in the United Arab Emirates. They went to the DubaiGaming subreddit to post the response, which said “If any game did not exist in any Store region it mea[ns] that the game is banned by the competent authorities of the country and we can not do anything regarding that.”
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Searching forThe Last of Us 2on the UAE or MENA (Middle Eastern North Africa) PS Stores brings up the original game and its remaster, but not the sequel, even though it’s been promoted in official PlayStation Twitter accounts in that region. Many Middle Eastern countries follow Sharia law, a religious law derived from Islam and the Quran. These laws tend to be very strict about what can or can’t be shown in the media. Some companies can censor problematic themes or change things around, but withThe Last of Us 2releasing in under a month, it’s unlikely we’ll see any big changes.
There’s been no official reasonThe Last of Us 2is not being sold in these countries. However, it’s highly suspected that it has to do with Ellie and Dina, who we saw are romantically into each other back in theE3 2018 trailer. LGBT+ themes aren’t welcome in movies and games in those countries, no matter how minor they are. It’s sometimes possible for companies to censor those themes, like with Pixar’sOnward, but it’s practically impossible to hide the LGBT+ themes when it heavily involves a main character. Another reasonThe Last of Us 2may be banned is that the ESRB rating mentions nudity and sexual content, both of which are also frowned upon in the Middle East.
While the ban may make getting the game harder, it’s not impossible for players in the Middle East to buyThe Last of Us 2. It’ll still be available in just about every other PlayStation Store, and pre-paid PS Store cards for those countries can easily be purchased online. There’s also all the third-party retailers in those countries who can import the games and sell those physical copies to customers. If anything, the ban simply meansThe Last of Us 2won’t be localized into Arabic. Havingrecently gone gold, it’s not going to be too long before copies will make their way into the hands of dedicated Arabic players.
The Last of Us 2releases globally on June 19 for the PlayStation 4.
