Starfield is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated games of this year. The next big hit from Bethesda will be available in September and is slowly starting to be studied by the various game rating organizations. Australia has returned its
verdict this week, and it’s pretty severe.
Forbidden to under 18s in Australia
Starfield has indeed been rated R18+, which means it is prohibited for sale to anyone under 18. When classifying games, several categories are listed such as sex, nudity, violence, foul language or drug use, and organizations assess their potential impact on players on 6 different levels.
As can be seen in the image above, Starfield does not contain any sex scenes, and the impact of the nudity was rated as “slight”. However, a “high impact” was noted regarding drug use by the Australian classification committee, leading to the title being rated R18+.
It is quite surprising to see the organization stop on this subject. References to drugs are regular in Bethesda games and especially in the Fallout series. Still, a title like Fallout 4 was rated MA 15+ upon release in the territory, as was Skyrim.
As a reminder, we will learn more about Starfield on June 11 during the Starfield Direct. The game will be released on September 6, 2023 on Xbox Series X|S and PC, and will be available directly in Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.
