Australian classification laws for games are known for being rather unique in their strictness, with plenty of titles being refused classification in the past, and now DayZ has been added to that list, despite being on sale digitally for the last six years.
As spotted by Ref Classification on Twitter, this applies to the upcoming physical release, coming after Five Star Games submitted it to the Australian Classification. What's more bizarre though is that the game has received "MA15+ (Strong Violence, Online Interactivity) 3 times in the last 10 months under IARC system" when submitted by developer Bohemia Interactive, referring to the International Age Rating Coalition, a separate entity.
You can see the exact reasoning on the Australian Classification site, which reads as follows:
"The computer game is classified RC in accordance with the National Classification Code, Computer Games Table, 1. (a) as computer games 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."
As pointed out by Eurogamer though, this difference of opinions comes from the fact the previous release was classified by the IARC, while the Australian Classification system is a lot stricter for physical releases, requiring more than developer responses to sets of questions, as the IARC uses.
What do you make of its classification refusal?