{"id":64279,"date":"2014-05-12T11:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T09:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=64279"},"modified":"2014-05-12T11:02:52","modified_gmt":"2014-05-12T09:02:52","slug":"the-sims-4-gets-18-age-restriction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/business\/64279-the-sims-4-gets-18-age-restriction","title":{"rendered":"The Sims 4 gets 18+ age restriction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russia has placed an 18+ rating on The Sims 4<\/a>, marking the game as “prohibited for children” due to its inclusion of same-sex relationships.<\/p>\n

The Russian Federation prohibits the promotion of same-sex relationships, and has come under fire from the international community of late because of this stance.<\/p>\n

The 18 rating was first advertised on the Russian Sims twitter account<\/a>, where the box art for the game was shown off. “18+ [rating] has been assigned in accordance with the law number 436-FZ ‘On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development,'” the tweet reads (via Google Translate).<\/p>\n

Sims games routinely get T for Teen (ages 13 and up) ratings in the US, PEGI 12 ratings in the European Union, and M (ages 15 and up) ratings in Australia. In Germany, The Sims 3 was even rated as appropriate for ages 6 and up by the country’s USK rating board. The games have included the option of same-sex relationships since the series debuted in 2000.<\/p>\n

This news follows a similar controversy involving Nintendo, whose life simulation game,\u00a0Tomodachi Life, does not allow for same sex relationships<\/a>. Nintendo has since apologised for not allowing gay relationships in the game, but says it is too late to change the\u00a0title’s structure.<\/p>\n