The People’s Republic of China has officially banned Battlefield 4 from being sold in the country, following criticism from a military newspaper that the game comprised a form of “cultural invasion”.
While many outlets note news of the ban comes following the release of BF4 DLC China Rising, military newspaper Zhongguo Guofangbao took issue with the game’s main storyline on its own. The newspaper criticized EA for taking the easy route by taking a US political rival and making it the game’s antagonist, giving Western players the chance to live out fantasies of fighting said country.
Now, however, word comes from China’s Ministry of Culture. Not only is the game no longer disallowed at retail, but mainland Chinese will not be able to access the game in any way. This means game downloads, demos, patches, are all inaccessible. Chinese based search engine Weibo is now also actively censoring search results for the game, so even this report is not showing up in the country anymore.
Does EA have a leg to stand with this one? It’s unlikely that DICE or EA will take action, at least momentarily, as they continue to deal with the game’s technical issues. There is also the pending worry of multiple lawsuits following allegations the company’s management committed fraud in relation to the game’s development.
Again, I bring up the awkward position this now places EA Shanghai in (home to staff from Popcap and Visceral Games). China itself was also set to ease the entry of consoles into the region, so this can only be seen as a step backward. While China’s censorship of their own citizens is clear, I’m afraid EA may have made bigger problems for the industry without the benefit of hindsight.
Image is from Battlefield 4.
