Hello, gay nerds. Clearly, if you’re reading this, you’ve taken a break from playing Dragon Age: Inquisition, which came out today all over the world. Well, all over the world except for India.
Publisher Electronic Arts has abruptly decided to withdraw the game from the entire country of India, saying that they’re doing so “in order to avoid a breach of local content laws.”
Dragon Age games have always featured some queer content, but the third installment has more than ever: rather than have the option for bisexual romances, Inquisition features an exclusively-gay party member named Dorian. Is he the reason EA pulled the game? It’s unclear.
“The decision here is in relation to local obscenity laws, but not specific to same gender romance,” an EA rep told Kotaku. We want to believe that’s true, but it’s kind of a weird claim. The company released Grand Theft Auto V in India, which has tons of heterosexual sexuality. They’re also still selling other Dragon Age and Mass Effect titles, all of which have gay relationships. And the Indian distributor, Milestone Interactive, indicated to NDTV that the gay content was to blame.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
So what’s going on? It’s hard to say. India’s laws about obscenity, particularly around LGBT content, are pretty murky. EA hasn’t said which laws they’re afraid that Dragon Age would break.
At the end of the day, it means that Indian RPG players are going to miss out on a chance to play a storyline with gay characters, and that’s a shame. If only EA had the courage to stand up to the local magisters.
Discover more
Ron Jackson
To all of those gay boys in India: Go to http://www.thepiratebay.se download torrent. Play game. Fuck the Indian government and EA.
jason smeds
I plan to boycott anything Indian. I won’t even go to Indian restaurants. Please, tell your friends about it. India is a terrible country that does not deserve our business. Let’s take our business elsewhere.
Stache99
@jason smeds: Better not need any technical advise or information from any call in center then.
redcarpet30
@Ron Jackson: Doesn’t work if you don’t have a gaming PC and wanted to play it on a console like PS4, Xbox, PS3, or Xbox 360.
Daniepwils
Maybe if they didn’t worry about banning video games they would have time to deal with all of the gang rapes of women that happen so much in their cities…India is a disgusting country one that I will never visit again. They still have a true cast system, it is very sad and disgusting. Women are treated like crap. No regard for human life either if you are of the lower cast system. There is open trash and bodies in the streets. I saw three bodies while I was there and people just walked around them like it was a puddle of water…
Captain Obvious
I’m much more offended by that mustache. I think India has bigger problems than a mage who likes to ride a staff every once in a while.
boring
Grand Theft Auto V also had Trevor, who totally fucks dudes, too.
Trevor is awesome.
tdx3fan
@Captain Obvious: I agree. That mustache is incredibly offensive. What is worse is that the writer that created the character is gay himself. I don’t know why he needs to promote some 1980s fantasy.
Kangol
A little context. India now has an extreme right-wing, Hindu nationalist, virulently anti-Muslim government, the BJP, in office. Its ties to fascist parties in other countries has received some coverage.
It could be that the gaming company sees the writing on the wall and anticipates an anti-gay crackdown, which would not be out of question for the BJP. Last year the BJP came out against gay rights, calling homosexuality “unnatural.”
It also has announced it will ban all porn sites.
Blanket trashing of India is really ugly, and slanders a country of over 1 billion people. Vile politicians from right-wing parties, however, do deserve criticism for stoking anti-gay hate and persecution.