Remember that announcement trailer of We Dare from Ubisoft? No? You know... the one with all the suggestive flirting and bottom-spanking? Yeah, now you remember. Well, despite all the attention that the kinky party game received, it seems the French publisher is very selective in which regions the game will launch in, or rather, will not launch in.
Speaking to The Telegraph, a Ubisoft representative spoke about the reaction to the Pan European Game Information's rating of the saucy title:
Following the public reaction to the 12+ rating of We Dare, Ubisoft has made the decision not to sell the game in the United Kingdom.
This move follows Ubisoft's decision to skip the United States when launching We Dare later this year. With the U.S. and now the U.K. crossed off the list, it seems the market that Ubisoft is targeting is primarily mainland Europe. We have terms like shareware, and shovelware to describe different types of software based on what they offer to the user. Perhaps we should refer to this as underware now?
PEGI has also issued a response to the reaction that the 12 rating has caused, highlighting the remit of the European ratings board:
Conclusions by press and commenters have been based exclusively on the online commercial... whereas the conclusions of PEGI were based on the game experience... It was correct to give the game a 12 rating... The content of the game and the interaction that the game itself implies do not warrant a higher rating. Marketing may have implied something else, but PEGI does not rate advertising, it rates game content.
[source telegraph.co.uk, via uk.wii.ign.com]
Comments 42
I've never seen anything so silly get so blown out of proportion. It's just a silly mini-game with some cartoon flirting. I guess it's okay to shoot people in the face with a bazooka as long as you don't hug them first.
...
Actually, hugging people before killing them sounds quite frightening.
Wow...
I was questioning the rating but now, this has definitely been blown out of proportion.
Looks like it's still getting an Australian release.
Do not understand the wave of negative hype around this game. There are literally thousands of adult board games out there. How is this any different?
I guess I'm thinking the trailer and marketing was tremendously misleading as far as game play goes, because I can't imagine if the game clearly instructs you to lay on someones lap and be spanked that it would be approved for 12 yr olds. Not even Teen? c'mon....
so after all these years, that old saying "make love not war" is being said the wrong way round i guess.
This reminds me that Nintendo published Twister in Japan...it didn't do well at first (you can probably guess the reason) but did a bit better when they started promoting it at a fitness product.
@WaltzElf. Now that would be ironic given the ratings situation in Australia.
Phew. Thank God for that(!)
I think the main concern is the ambiguity, both in game content and marketing. Having spent so many years in the industry, PEGI knows what it's doing. The public reaction is probably more to do with the way Ubisoft is suggesting this is a party game with an adult theme even though the ratings board deems it suitable for 12-year-olds. Is this blown out of proportion? Probably. Does Ubisoft need to be more decisive with its marketing campaigns? Probably. Would parents think that We Dare is something suitable for their young teens judging by the adverts? Probably not. Personally, I think the more regions that won't be getting this game the better as it makes it less likely to sell big numbers and spawn a sequel. Ubisoft, just because games like the Just Dance series is flying off the shelves, doesn't mean you should make less compelling games.
They dare us to play that game! Heh heh, dare, heh heh. i wonder if I get to watch that trailer now
Ok, so there's an uproar over 12 year olds potentially playing this game, is that it?
I'm pretty sure just about every 12 year old has played spin the bottle. If not, then Twister. Twister is pretty suggestive.
@Starwolf - I prefer to think of it as appopriate. I can almost understand banning a game for explicit violence. I cannot understand banning a game for mild sexual content.
I hate how the slightest hint of sex in media (not just games, mind) renders it instantly taboo, but violence, which is far less healthy needs to be extreme before it causes even a stir.
Oh i don't think the mild sexual themes the game includes, which according to the rating are adecuate for 12 years old, were the problem...
It looks more like the problem was the advertising, which was unnecessarily risque.
Seemingly suggesting that you may end up in a bed with the person(s) you play this game with.
I'm not gonna argue that cracking down on sex in the media as opposed to violence isn't ridiculous and backwards, but sexual themes and sexual playacting seem like an important difference for 12 yr olds.
@WaltzElf: I suppose this is treated as a bigger issue than some random board game simply because it's on the Wii. People simply refuse to let go of the idea that nothing designed for older people should be allowed on the machine. Same problem certain groups had with games like Madworld.
I agree (as I believe has come up before) with you about the relative views on sex and violence, though. I don't see that standard changing anytime soon, of course.
Thank goodness this won't be released in US
I guess no US release also means no Canadian release? I'm considering this game for the sake of irony alone.
Well, here's my uneducated opinion on this matter. PEGI rates games based on what happens on the screen, not outside the game, right? So, basically, nothing bad is displayed on the screen that I know of. The controversial stuff happens outside of the game, but the game just encourages you to do it. Heck, someone could be being spanked while he's playing Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet and it wouldn't get rated any higher. And no one gets angry when people playing drinking games with otherwise harmless games. Though I do think there should be a disclaimer on the box.
I guess we need to know more about what the game actually tells you to do on screen, because Dora the Explorer certainly won't be instructing you to spank someone.
It looks like this game has a lot of controversy.
The ad alone is obviously what caused all the problem, this was Ubisoft's portrayal of how the game is supposed to be played - spanking , shoving the wiimote down your pants etc... so, of course certain people are gonna question the rating. What do you expect?
Since it's just a bunch of crappy mini-games, no real loss.
@Chibi_Link
It's not marketed as a sex game, it's marketed as a sexy game. At no stage does We Dare ask the players to have sex - so there is a massive difference there.
If the people playing the game then go and have sex, well, that's not Ubisoft's fault. Any more than it's Rockstar's fault if someone goes and beats up a prostitute after playing GTA.
So, when you realise that We Dare is a sexy game, and not a sex game, a PG rating fits. What's happening on screen during the game is quite tame, and certainly no worse than what happens in a game like Twister.
The reason it won't be released in the US and UK is that Europe and Australia is as a whole less prudish than those two countries, and rather than throw a tantrum about how mild sexual content is ruining our children, we instead laugh and move on with our lives.
12+ huh...
at least somebody's thinking of the children
The idea for the game is pretty good and a potential money maker though it seems like they should have made the actual content of the game more adult so it fits more.
Still, an uproar over the rating not matching the advertising is just dumb. Something can be aimed at an adult audience and receive a 12+ rating. It just means that there is nothing objectionable to someone under 12 not that 12 year olds should play the game and act on its suggestive content.
Whats even worse is that the uproar is over what looks like a poorly done game.
Flop.
12+ rating? Hmm, I think they forgot to think about themes, even though there isn't much imagery.
Interesting...tell me more Ubisoft. You'd think the US would be on top of their list
Spineless Ubisoft, can't stand up to reactionary right wing newspapers >
"We have terms like shareware, and shovelware to describe different types of software based on what they offer to the user. Perhaps we should refer to this as underware now?"
That was a good one !
Ah well, if I'm interested in getting this tomorrow I'll either have to get a Channel ferry or wait until someone starts selling UK copies that "missed the recall" on Ebay.
@10 The much superior version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmnatUYS0rg
I guess Canada was lumped in with the US... again. Not that I'm disappointed, mind you. I still feel slightly nauseous when I think of that trailer...
No one here seems to get it. This game is rate 12 which is probably be teen rated for us in the US. The ad they showed made this look like a game for mature audiences but it is getting a 12 rating? That is crazy to me but not to anyone else. Maybe if they had used 12 year olds in the ads instead of the adults to display the acts they did in the ad, it would make sense to everyone. If they are making an adult game give it and adult rating. If they are making a 12+ game, don't make it seem as though it is a R rated game.
bring this game to U.S.
"People are stupid and blow stuff out of proportion" is not news. This is just sad. It's a silly minigame collection; except this time, there was actually a hook to it instead of just cheaply ripping off Nintendo. Too bad. And it is crazy to think that shooting people is more socially acceptable in entertainment than anything REMOTELY resembling relationships.
No wonder the divorce rate here in the 'states is so high.
This is idiotic. I'm against censorship of any type, but that's not even the point here. The worst part is most of the media is lying and blaming Nintendo (because if you tell the average person "Ubisoft made this" their reaction will probably be "who's Ubisoft?") for allowing Ubisoft to make this game and then again directly blame Nintendo for the low age rating when that's Europe's own age rating issue. And even worse this is a huge emphasis on "Nintendo products are for kids" which is terrible.
Now how am I supposed to have "epic Wii parties" like Charlie Sheen?
The issue here is, of course, the advertising. From what little I seen in the ad, of the actual game, it looks tame, & could possibly be even an E10 rating, rather than a T rating. But Ubisoft was advertising this as a sensual-type-of-experience inducing game. It very well may lead to that for (certain) players, but that is not Ubisoft's fault, nor Nintendo's.
I think the issues of sex, & violence in media should be treated on the same plain.
Edit: Had Ubisoft marketed this differently, I bet it would have showed up here on store shelves.
The game is designed for adults, the content in the game is suitable for 12-year-olds. That means no content in the game itself will cause distress to a 12-year-old. The game itself contains no more than mild sexual themes, hence the 12 rating. Actually playing the game is what ramps the sexual aspect of it up, but that's not what PEGI rates. What it doesn't mean is PEGI or Ubisoft are suggesting 12-year-olds should play it.
They could just slap an extra notice on the box "game intended for adult audiences only" and advise retailers not to sell to minors, and the problem would go away.
The moral of this story? People can be morons a lot.
The French ruin everything they have good for themselves.
Maybe that's why Arsenal will never win a cup. Ba Dum Tish
Seriously though, the UK won't care...we have Page 3 girls for heaven's sake!
Oh, the French are so daft. I loved Ubisoft for releasing the 'decent' version of Rayman, but now... Eugh. The trailer looks funny, and I would've bought that if they'd have released it in the UK!
please watch the language — TBD
I've seen worse games in the UK like 7 Sins and Playboy: The Mansion but they ban this instead? Looks rubbish anyway.
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