Starfield Gets Restricted Rating in Australia Due to 'Interactive Drug Use,' Strong Violence
ign.comBethesda's upcoming RPG Starfield has received a Restricted rating due to its depiction of "interactive drug use," the Australian Classification Board has announced. It is Australia's strongest classification, meaning sales of Bethesda's new RPG will be restricted to adults over 18 in Australia.
Violence was classified as having a "Strong Impact," while nudity and sex received very low ratings. Drug use did the most to drive Starfield's ratings, which its depiction being classified as "High Impact." Starfield's rating is stronger than Fallout 4, which received an MA-15 rating for its violence when it was released back in 2015.
Bethesda's RPGs have long been known for their explicit content, including featuring a fictional drug called "Jet" that your character can get addicted to in-game. This is the strongest rating to date, though, offering a hint of what to expect when it's eventually released later this year.
While Bethesda has delved into some of Starfield's systems and gameplay, there's still a good deal we don't known. Back in 2022 we interviewed director Todd Howard, where he talked about how it would mix handcrafted content with a procedurally-generated galaxy, among other features.
Starfield was originally supposed in late 2022, but was subsequently delayed into 2023. Xbox boss Phil Spencer supported the delay and said "the decision to give the team the time to build the game that they feel they should be building is just the right thing to do."
Starfield is currently slated to release September 6 on PC and Xbox Series X|S, and has been confirmed to be available Day 1 on Xbox Game Pass.
Luis Gutierrez is a freelance writer at IGN.
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