Sims 4 Wedding Expansion Won't Be Released In Russia Due To Anti-Gay Law
EA and Sims developer Maxis have announced that they will not be releasing the upcoming The Sims 4 expansion pack, My Wedding Stories, in Russia.
In a blog post today from The Sims Team, Maxis said that releasing the pack in Russia would have meant "compromising the values we live by," saying that federal laws would have forced them to make changes to the pack's development and marketing.
My Wedding Stories is a wedding-focused pack that allows players to plan and hold elaborate weddings in a new location, Tartosa. It expands on existing wedding features including proposals and the ceremony itself, adding detailed planning, decor, outfits, cakes, events, and much more.
Though any adult Sims can marry one another currently in The Sims 4 and will be able to do so in My Wedding Stories, the pack's marketing and storytelling explicitly feature two women: Dominique and Camille, as they plan their wedding.
Russian federal law introduced in 2013 prohibits content marketed toward children (anyone under the age of 18) that presents homosexuality as a societal norm, labeling it as "propaganda." The introduction of the law has coincided with an uptick in violence against LGBTQ individuals in Russia and has been condemned by numerous human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The Sims 4 received a mature (18+) rating in Russia at its 2014 launch explicitly due to its inclusion of same-sex relationships. At the time, EA said it had no interest in altering the game's content to get the rating adjusted — a view the publisher appears to be sticking to with My Wedding Stories.
"Imagining the stories our players will tell with our packs is at the heart of everything we create. For 'My
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