Developer Ludeon Studios’ widely acclaimed sci-fi colony sim RimWorld has had its Refused Classification status rescinded in Australia following a successful appeal, meaning its effective ban in the region has been overturned.
The notoriously sensitive Australian Classification Board initially refused to grant RimWorld a rating in March after its publisher Double Eleven Limited submitted the game for an upcoming “multi platform” launch, prohibiting it from release and effectively banning it from sale. The decision even affected the long-available Steam version of RimWorld, preventing new purchases from being made on Valve’s digital store.
No specific reason was given for the board’s decision at the time, with its website only referencing its usual boilerplate copy for games refused a rating, saying RC titles are those that “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults to the extent that they should not be classified.”