Saints Row IV was recently banned in Australia causing much dissent among gamers who live there. Since the ban, however, a new “Low Violence Version” of the game has appeared on Steam becoming available to Australian customers.
There has been no official statement on what actually changes between the regular version and this lighter version but its appearance on Steam has led to the suspicion that it’s simply being offered in expectation that publishers Deep Silver will resubmit a modified copy of the game to try to get past Australia’s notoriously conservative Classification Board.
When the gaming news site, Kotaku Australia asked the publishers for further information on the matter, but were told “Deep Silver has no further comments at this time”.
Saints Row IV will be released on August 20, 2013 in North America and August 23, 2013 in Europe followed by a worldwide release three days later, and will be released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. As in previous titles in the series, the player controls the leader of the Third Street Saints, who has now become the president of the United States. The game returns to the fictional city of Steelport from The Third, which will be redesigned as a retro-futuristic dystopia with elements of Washington, D.C. The game takes place a few years after The Third, focusing on the Saints fighting a larger threat than the typical street gangs: aliens.
