Syndicate refused classification

The highly anticipated Syndicate reboot has been refused classification in Australia. While no official statement has been made by developer Starbreeze, the result has emerged on the Australian Classification Database, stamped with "RC" today, "Refused Classification", effectively being banned in the country.

We'll keep you updated on this story as news arrives.

Update: Kotaku has gotten their hands on the Classification Board's official report, which gives us an idea of why they have refused to let the game be sold in Australia, as our current ratings scheme enables only a maximum of an MA15+ classification:

"… an intense sequence of violence commences when a player collect a “g290 minigun, which operates much like a Gatling gun. A player moves through a building rapidly firing at enemy combatants. Combatants take locational damage and can be explicitly dismembered, decapitated or bisected by the force of the gunfire. The depictions are accompanied by copious bloodspray and injuries are shown realistically and with detail. Flesh and bone are often exposed while arterial sprays of blood continue to spirt from wounds at regular intervals.

"The game also allows a player to repeatedly damage enemy combatant’s corpses. This is shown in realistic depictions. For example, it is possible for a player to decapitate a corpse with a headshot before individually blowing off each of its limbs. Depending on the weapon used, it is also possible to bisect a corpse, with realistic ragdoll effects noted. The depictions are again accompanied by arterial sprays of blood and detailed injuries that include protruding bone.

"In the opinion of the Board, the game contains intense sequences of violence which include detailed depictions of decaptitation and dismemberment that are high in playing impact. The game also contains the ability to inflict repeated and realistic post mortem damage which exceeds strong in playing impact. It is therefore unsuitable for a minor to see or play and should be Refused Classification pursuant to item 1(d) of the computer games table of the Code."

You can read the report in full first-hand by clicking here.