Germany’s Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons (abbreviated from German to BPjM) entire existence is based around censoring works deemed potentially harmful for children, developing an infamous reputation among gamers because of it. The BPjM has struck again, with PC Games Hardware reporting that the U.S. version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the European version of Left 4 Dead 2 have been banned in Germany.
What’s interesting about this decision is that the versions of the game censored for Germany are still legal for sale. Oddly, the U.K. version of Modern Warfare 2 on PC and the U.S. version of Left 4 Dead 2 are currently not banned. It is suspected that the infamous airport level (heavily censored in the German release) was a major contributing factor to that game’s banning.
The censorship issues in Germany don’t seem like they will abate any time soon, with Sega unlikely to release Aliens vs. Predator there because of censorship concerns.
