List of controversial video games

This is a list of video games considered controversial. Some of the video games on this list have been banned or regionally censored.

Table of controversial games

This video game-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

1970s-1980s

Release date	Title	Platform	Developer/Publisher	Reason(s)
1973	Gotcha	Arcade	Atari	Controversial due to the controls being perceived as pink rubber bulges that were meant to represent breasts and were squeezed in order to control the action.[1]
1976	Death Race	Arcade	Exidy	The object of the game is to run over stickmen "gremlins", who then scream and are replaced by tombstones, which was perceived as violence.[2][3]
1982	Custer's Revenge	Atari 2600	Mystique	The game depicts a crudely rendered General Custer dodging arrows to reach a naked Native American woman tied to a cactus. Should he survive, he was allowed to have sex with her, and received points for doing so. This quickly led to controversy regarding whether he was raping her, or if she participated willingly.[2][4][5]
1984–2009	Punch-Out!!	Arcades, NES, SNES, Wii	Nintendo, Next Level Games (2009 version)	Numerous instances of ethnic stereotyping, mainly of the opponent boxers that the player fights.[6][7][8]
1985	International Karate	Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Commodore 16, MS-DOS, MSX, ZX Spectrum	System 3	Main article: Data East USA, Inc. v. Epyx, Inc. Data East USA sued Epyx, the publisher of the game in the United States (under the name of World Karate Championship) due to similarities between International Karate and Data East's Karate Champ. Although the suit was dismissed,[9] Data East was successful in obtaining an injunction to prevent further sales of World Karate Championship, which was subsequently appealed and reversed.[10][11]
1986	177	NEC PC-8801	dB-soft	A bishoujo game revolving around rape, it ignited a public furor that reached the National Diet of Japan.[12]
1986	Chiller	Arcade, NES	Exidy	Senseless, gory victimization of innocent people led arcade owners to widely reject it.[13]
1987	Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior	Acorn Electron, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, ZX Spectrum	Palace Software	The cover art of the game, which featured bikini-clad Maria Whittaker, a model who was then associated with The Sun tabloid's Page Three topless photo shoots, and Michael Van Wijk, who was only wearing a loincloth, provoked outrage in the United Kingdom. Electron User magazine received letters from readers and religious bodies, who called the image "offensive and particularly insulting to women" and an "ugly pornographic advertisement".[14] Barbarian's violent content also sparked significant controversy and was banned in Germany by the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien because of it.[15]
1987	Super Monaco GP	Arcade, Sega Genesis, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Gear, Master System, ZX Spectrum	Sega	Phillip Morris sued Sega (and some other video game companies, including Namco and Atari Games on behalf of their Final Lap game) because the arcade version of the game contains advertisements that resemble those for Marlboro cigarettes.[16][17]
1987–present	Leisure Suit Larry series	PC, PS2, Xbox, PS3, Xbox 360, Mobile phones, Android, iOS, PS4, Nintendo Switch	Sierra Entertainment/Various	Controversial for its obscenities and mature humor. Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude was released on PC both censored and uncensored in the United States. The game was banned in Australia.
1988–2010	Splatterhouse series	Arcade, Famicom, FM Towns, TurboGrafx-16, Sega Genesis, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, Nintendo Switch	Namco (now Bandai Namco Entertainment)	Blood and gore, violence, and some questionable enemies. Critics described the most recent game as a "massive disappointment" and "violent, excessively gory brawler".[18]

1990s

Release date	Title	Platform	Developer/Publisher	Reason(s)
1991	J.B. Harold Murder Club	TurboGrafx-16	NEC	Sexual themes, including a reference to an unsolved rape.[19]
1992	Wolfenstein 3D	DOS, SNES, 3DO, Atari Jaguar, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iOS, Android	id Software	Violence, gore, Nazi symbolism, and the inclusion of Adolf Hitler as the final boss.[20]
1992–present	Mortal Kombat series	Arcade, PC, Consoles, Mobile devices, Stadia	Midway (later Warner Bros. Interactive)	Blood, violence and gore. First fighter to introduce "Fatalities" to finish off opponents.[2][4][5][21][22][23] When released for home console formats it became the first "big budget" game to raise the issue of violence in the medium. Possible catalyst to the implementation of a rating system such as ESRB.
1992	Night Trap	Sega CD	Digital Pictures	Violence, child abuse and sexual themes.[2][4][21]
1993	Fighter's History	Arcade, SNES	Data East	Capcom sued Data East in the United States and Japan on grounds of copyright infringements pertaining to Street Fighter II property. The U.S. case was ruled in favor of Data East (which argued Karate Champ was the true originator of the competitive fighting game genre), as the "copied" elements were excluded from copyright,[24] similar to Apple's graphical user interface lawsuit against Microsoft.
1993	Doom	PC, Atari Jaguar, SNES, 32X, 3DO, Sega Saturn, PS1, GBA, Xbox 360, iOS, Android, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One	id Software	First-person violence, gore, and satanic themes.[2][5][21][22] Was once blamed for the Columbine High School massacre.
1996–present	Pokémon series	Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Nintendo DS, Wii, WiiWare, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch	Nintendo, Game Freak	Jynx, one of the series' titular creatures, came under heavy backlash following a 2000 article by Carole Boston Weatherford that accused its design of perpetrating blackface imagery.[25] The resulting controversy forced a drastic redesign of Jynx, changing its skin from black to purple and shrinking its eyes and mouth. The series was also attacked by fundamentalist Christian groups, who argued that it promoted Satanic themes. In response, the Vatican broadcast its public approval of Pokémon in April 2001, claiming that the game was based on "intense ties of friendship" and lacked "any harmful moral side effects."[26]
1996	SimCopter	PC	Maxis	A programmer named Jacques Servin introduced unauthorized "himbo" characters into the game, who would appear on certain dates and kiss.[27]
1996	Duke Nukem 3D	PC, Sega Saturn, PS1, PS3, PS Vita, PS4, Nintendo 64, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android, iOS	3D Realms	Violence, sexual themes, nudity.[28][29]
1996	Tomb Raider	PC, Sega Saturn, PS1	Eidos	An unauthorized software patch nicknamed "Nude Raider" was created by fans which allowed players to play as a naked Lara Croft.[30]
1996	Battlecruiser 3000AD	PC	3000 AD	The game's long, troubled development, including the claims of use of neural network for the game's AI in the game's marketing, was a subject of multiple, year-long flame wars across the Usenet, generating over 70,000 posts and a number of web sites documenting the flame wars.[31]
1997	Shadow Warrior	PC, Mac, iOS	3D Realms	Controversial for "insensitive" and "inauthentic"[32] depictions of East Asian society and culture, to which 3D Realms responded, saying that they did not intend to make a racist game but had deliberately used a melange of Asian culture in order to create a "fun game" which "didn't take itself too seriously" and parodied "bad kung fu movies".[32] Despite their response, such criticism had continued.[33]
1997	Carmageddon	PC, Mac, N64, iOS, PS1	SCi, Interplay Entertainment	Violence against pedestrians.[34] and animals.
1997	Postal	PC	Running with Scissors	Violence and anti-law, most of which is committed against both civilians and government authorities.[21]
1997–present	Grand Theft Auto series	Android, Amazon Fire TV, Dreamcast, Fire OS, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, iOS, Nintendo DS, PC, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5 PSP, Shield Portable, Shield Tablet, Shield Android TV, Windows Phone, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X	Rockstar Games (firmerly DMA Design, now Rockstar North) (Take-Two Interactive)	See also: Controversies surrounding Grand Theft Auto IV, Controversies surrounding Grand Theft Auto V, and Hot Coffee mod Sexual themes, drug use, racism, nudity, language, drunk driving, violence (against both civilians and law enforcement personnel). Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was originally rated "Mature" in the U.S., but was reviewed and re-rated "Adults Only" after controversy surrounding a fanmade Hot Coffee mod which unlocked a hidden sex scene (which was in the game's code, but left out of the final version). It was again re-rated "Mature" after Rockstar Games removed this scene from the game's code.[35] In Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, one mission features full frontal male nudity, while in Grand Theft Auto V, one mission sees the character Trevor Philips torturing another character in several different ways, including waterboarding, pulling out teeth and administering electrical shocks to the nipples. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars featured a drug-dealing mini-game.
1997	Formula 1 97	PC, PS1	Psygnosis	The game was withdrawn from shops six weeks after its release due to legal wranglings with the FIA (Formula One's governing body), which objected to the use of the FIA logo on the game's packaging. It was re-released without the logo, but the FIA were left unsatisfied. The FIA lost a court case however, and the game continued to be sold without the logo.[36]
1998	Thrill Kill	PS1	Virgin Interactive	After Electronic Arts acquired the assets of Virgin Interactive in mid-1998, it quickly cancelled the release of Thrill Kill (which was due to be released in time for the holiday season) due to objections over the game's high level of violent content.
1999	Kingpin: Life of Crime	PC	Interplay Entertainment	Excessive violence.[37]

2000s

Release date	Title	Platform	Developer/Publisher	Reason(s)
2000	Dance Dance Revolution Solo	Arcade	Konami	In 2002, a local arcade in San Diego, California removed a Solo 2000 machine after members of the local "Youth Advocacy Coalition" complained that the background movies of selected songs contained images that could promote drug and alcohol abuse, such as a scantily clad nurse, pills in "I'm Alive" and alcoholic drinks appearing in "Club Tropicana". The machine was replaced by a mix which did not contain the imagery.[38]
2000	Daikatana	PC	Ion Storm	A highly controversial advertisement regarding John Romero's involvement with the game, which caused an equally highly publicized outrage.[39]
2000	Soldier of Fortune	PC, Dreamcast, PS2	Raven Software	In 2000, after receiving a complaint from a member of the public about the explicit content of the game, the British Columbia Film Classification Office investigated and decided the violence, gore and acts of torture were not suitable for persons under 18 years of age. In a controversial decision, the game was labeled an "adult motion picture" and was rated as a pornographic film. In Germany, the game was placed on the Index List of the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons.
2000	Perfect Dark	N64, Xbox 360, Xbox One (Rare Replay)	Rare, Nintendo, Microsoft Studios (now Xbox Game Studios)	As the first M-rated game published by Nintendo, the release of Perfect Dark was met with controversy since Nintendo - at least at the time - was famous for family-friendly video game franchises like Pokémon and Mario.[40]
2001	Conker's Bad Fur Day	N64, Xbox One (Rare Replay)	Rare, Nintendo, Microsoft Studios (now Xbox Game Studios)	Controversial for its "over-the-top" and "lewd" humor.[41]
2001	Tear Ring Saga	PS1	Tirnanog	The game, whose development was spearheaded by Shouzou Kaga, the creator of the Fire Emblem series, was subject to legal actions both during and after development by Nintendo, which owned the Fire Emblem intellectual property (partly due to the game being released for a competitor console). However, Nintendo was ultimately unable to stop the development or the sales of the game. Initially titled Emblem Saga during development, the game's name and other features were later changed to remove all direct references to Fire Emblem.[42]
2002	Shadow Man: 2econd Coming	PlayStation 2	Acclaim	An attempt to promote this video game involved placing advertisements on deceased people's gravestones.[43]
2002	Ethnic Cleansing	PC	Resistance Records	Racially motivated violence, white supremacist themes.[44]
2002	Kaboom!	Browser	fabolous999	Players control a suicide bomber, the aim of the game being to kill as many people as possible.[45]
2002	State of Emergency	PC, PS2, Xbox	Rockstar Games (Take-Two Interactive), VIS Entertainment	Contains Columbine-style violence, including political assassinations and coup d'états. Additionally, the game caused controversy in Washington due to the game's similarities to the World Trade Organization riots in Seattle.[46]
2003	Postal 2	PC	Running with Scissors	Violence against both pedestrians and law enforcement personnel, racism, sexual themes, drug use, language, and animal cruelty. Banned in New Zealand, Sweden and Australia.[47]
2003	Manhunt	PS2, PC, Xbox	Rockstar Games (Rockstar North) (Take-Two Interactive)	Excessive violence and gore. Manhunt gained significant controversy after it was alleged that the game inspired a teenager to commit a murder. Banned in Australia.
2003	Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball	Xbox	Tecmo	Many critics have commented that the game's use of female bodies is often ridiculous at best, and some have found it offensive.[48]
2003	Whiplash	PlayStation 2, Xbox	Crystal Dynamics	The game generated some controversy over the animal cruelty, mainly by the RSPCA.
2003	Laden VS USA		Panyu Gaming Electronic Co.	The game was based on the September 11 attacks and the packaging used a 9/11 photograph.[49][50]
2004	The Sims 2	PC	EA Games	A player-made mod allowed for the blur effect that appears when a character is nude to be removed. However, the nude Sims are featureless.[51]
2004	JFK: Reloaded	PC	Traffic Software	The player is given the role of Lee Harvey Oswald as he assassinates U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Criticized for its controversial content matter in recreating the assassination and was condemned by a spokesman for Senator Ted Kennedy as "despicable".[52]
2004	The Guy Game	PC, PlayStation 2	Topheavy Studios/Gathering of Developers	An adult trivia game that treated winners to full motion videos of young women in bikinis. One of the women that was part of the footage was unaware that she would be appearing in the game, nor was said woman in an age of consent when the video was filmed. In the subsequent lawsuit against Topheavy, Gathering of Developers, Microsoft, and Sony, an injunction banned further sales of the game. Topheavy however, released an edited version (removing footage of the woman in question) that added new footage and was later published as an interactive DVD title.[53]
2005	Super Columbine Massacre RPG!	PC	Danny Ledonne	The game simulates the events of the Columbine High School massacre, having the player take on the roles of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and reenacting the massacre.[54][55][56][57]
2005	Gun	PC, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, Xbox 360	Activision	The game's offensive depictions of American Indians prompted the Association for American Indian Development to call a boycott against the game.[58]
2004	The Punisher	PC, PS2, Xbox	Volition	Interrogation, torture, intense gun fights, drugs, and indiscriminate killing. Originally merited an "Adults Only" rating before being edited on appeal.[59][60][61][62]
2006	Bully	PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, Wii, iOS, Android, Shield Android TV, Shield Tablet, Shield Portable	Rockstar Games (Rockstar Vancouver) (Take-Two Interactive)	Based upon its title, it was perceived that Bully glorified bullying. That the main character Jimmy could also kiss another boy was a matter of controversy.[63] Classification boards generally restricted Bully to a teenage audience: the US-based Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) classified the game with a T rating,[64] the British Board of Film Classification gave it a 15 rating, the Australian Classification Board rated it M,[65] and the New Zealand OFLC restricted it to persons 13 years of age and over. In 2007, Yahoo! Games listed it as one of the top ten controversial games of all time.[66]
2006	The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion	Xbox 360, PC, PS3	Bethesda Softworks	Main article: ESRB re-rating of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Re-rated to "Mature" by the ESRB after a third-party mod revealed a nude topless corpse hidden in the game's data files. While the corpse did not warrant a re-rating of the game in and of itself, upon review, the ESRB noted that the game contained much more explicit violence than had been submitted to them in the original rating submission.[67]
2006	Hitman: Blood Money	PC, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3	IO Interactive	Excessive violence and assassinations; magazine ads for the game featured pictures depicting murder victims.[68]
2006	Mind Quiz	Nintendo DS, PSP	Ubisoft	Recalled in the United Kingdom due to use of the word "spastic", which is considered highly offensive in said country.[69]
2006	Left Behind: Eternal Forces	PC	Left Behind Games	Accusations that the game promoted religious "convert or kill" violence, sexism and racism.[70][71][72] Some reviewers denied that the game contained any truly controversial gameplay,[73] but instead took issue with the game's clumsy controls, in-game advertising and lackluster AI.[74] Ars Technica called it "a relatively harmless and well-done piece of propaganda".[75]
2006	Resistance: Fall of Man	PS3	Insomniac Games	The Church of England objected to the game's use of Manchester Cathedral's interior as a backdrop during a gun battle, and called for the game to be withdrawn or for the cathedral to be removed from the game.[76]
2006	RapeLay	PC	Illusion Soft	Rape is a core part of the gameplay, as the player takes on the role of a chikan who stalks - and subsequently rapes - a mother and her two underage daughters. Three years after its initial release, significant controversy was raised in the UK Parliament and elsewhere, and Equality Now eventually pressured its distributor to withdraw distribution of it in Japan.[77]
2006	Rule of Rose	PS2	Punchline	The Mayor of Rome called for the game to be banned from Italy, saying children "have the right to be shielded from violence".[78] The then European Union justice and security commissioner wrote an open letter condemning the game for "obscene cruelty and brutality". An Italian magazine, Panorama, claimed that in order to win the game players must bury a girl alive, which the game's European publisher disputed.[79] On the UK release day, the publisher announced that Rule of Rose would not be published in the UK, despite the game being approved for release by the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) and Video Standards Council regulatory bodies.[80]
2007	BioShock	Xbox 360, PC , PS3, iOS	2K Games	An article in The Patriot Ledger, the local paper of developer Irrational Games,[81] argued that the game is "testing the limits of the ultra-violent gaming genre with a strategy that enables players to kill characters resembling young girls."[82] The game presents an ethical choice to players, whether to kill 'Little Sisters' for extra abilities or save them and receive less. President of 2K Boston Ken Levine defended the game as a piece of art, stating "we want to deal with challenging moral issues and if you want to do that, you have to go to some dark places".[83] Jack Thompson took issue with advertisements for the game appearing during WWE SmackDown's airtime, writing to the Federal Trade Commission and stating that M-rated games should not be advertised when large numbers of under-17s are watching.[84]
2007	Manhunt 2	PS2, PSP, PC, Wii	Rockstar Games	Manhunt 2 has been labeled as possibly the most violent video game ever made and is infamous for being one of only four video games to have received an "Adults Only" rating due to violence, with the other three being The Punisher, Hatred, and Agony. Further controversy surrounds the Wii version due to the fact that it actually simulates the violence through motion control, causing it to be dubbed a "murder simulator".[4][21][85]
2007	Mass Effect	PS3, Xbox 360, PC	BioWare	Falsely accused by evangelical blogger Kevin McCullough of containing "rape and sodomy", which later led to the removal of McCullough's blog entry on Townhall.com. The game was featured on the Fox News Channel following the controversy,[86] with host Martha MacCallum, which included the headline "full graphic sex".[87] In actuality, the game's most explicit content is an indirect "sideboob" shot of a humanoid alien breast.[88]
2007	Mario Party 8	Wii	Nintendo	Use of the phrase "Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!" by the character Kamek caused controversy in the United Kingdom, where the word spastic is considered offensive (which is the same issue that Mind Quiz raised). This led to a recall of the game; it was later re-released with the word changed to erratic.[89]
2008	Spore	PC	Maxis	Spore's use and implementation of SecuROM digital rights management, including the game's activation policies, was subject to widespread criticism and lawsuits; the game was listed as the most pirated game of 2008.[90][91][92][93][94]
2008	Muslim Massacre	PC	Eric 'Sigvatr' Vaughn	The game's contents and subject have been the subject of strong negative response; a spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain said "The makers of this 'game' and the ISPs (Internet service providers) who are hosting it should be quite ashamed of themselves. Anti-Muslim prejudice is already on the increase and needs to be challenged and not reinforced through tasteless and offensive stunts like this."[95]
2008	Invaders!		Douglas Edric Stanley	An art game exhibited at the 2008 Games Convention in Leipzig. It represents the September 11 attacks in the style of Space Invaders. Players move their bodies to move the cannon and use arm movements to fire.[96] Like the original Space Invaders, death (game over) is inevitable.[97] Many people considered it tasteless and inappropriate, and Taito threatened legal action for unauthorized use of Space Invaders content.[98] The creator later pulled the game.[98]
2008	Silent Hill: Homecoming	PS3, PC, Xbox 360	Double Helix Games	The game was banned and a rating refused in Australia and Germany for extreme violence and disturbing images which included graphic sexuality, nudity, copious blood sprays, decapitations, partially dismembered corpses, and numerous scenes of attacks, fights, torture and death.[99] The Australian version was subsequently released with the MA15+ rating and censored graphics, while the Japanese release was cancelled altogether.
2008	LittleBigPlanet	PS3	Media Molecule	Lyrics from a licensed song, "Tapha Niang", were removed due to fears that Muslims would be offended, on the basis that it allegedly contained words from the Quran. This led to controversy about the removal itself.[100]
2008	Too Human	Xbox 360	Silicon Knights	The game was revealed to being developed using a stolen version of Unreal Engine 3, following a successful counter-suit by Epic Games (makers of the Unreal Engine), Silicon Knights having initially sued Epic Games for "breach of contract".[101][102] In November 2012, the counter-suit was ruled in favor of Epic Games, forcing Silicon Knights to recall and destroy all copies of the game and another Unreal Engine-developed game, X-Men: Destiny, as well as cancelling other titles that had been planned to use the engine.[103][104]
2008	Limbo of the Lost	PC	Majestic Studios	The game's use of plagiarized assets from other games and movies prompted publishers, Tri Synergy, to stop publishing the game.[105]
2009	MadWorld	Wii	PlatinumGames
2009	Resident Evil 5	PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Shield Android TV, Shield Portable, Shield Tablet, Nintendo Switch	Capcom	The game came under controversy for a pre-release trailer that contains scenes of racism,[106] according to Newsweek journalist N'Gai Croal in an April 2008 interview. He also stated that organizations and retailers would object to the game and that it would cause controversy on release.[106]
2009	Saw	PS3, Xbox 360, PC	Konami	Several news publishings stated that the game's only purpose was to torture and kill people in violent ways with no sense of restraint or morality whatsoever. Some editorials called it "depraved and inhumane" and stated that "Konami should be ashamed".[107] It was also listed in the "Top ten most controversial games of 2009".[108]
2009	Left 4 Dead 2	Xbox 360, PC (Steam)	Valve	The cover art in the UK had to be altered due to a potentially offensive hand gesture being depicted.[109] The game was initially banned in Australia for its excessive violence and gore, but the uncensored version was later rated R18+ in 2014.[110] The game's New Orleans setting so soon after Hurricane Katrina was considered "a bad call".[111]
2009	Fat Princess	PlayStation 3 PlayStation Portable	Titan Studios	Critics argued that the game concept and title were hostile to women.[112]
2009	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2	PS3, Xbox 360, PC,	Infinity Ward	Main article: Controversies surrounding Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 A optional mission in the game entitled "No Russian" has the player assume control of an undercover Central Intelligence Agency operative, joining a group of Russian nationalist terrorists who perpetrate an airport massacre. The player is given the option to skip it at any point,[113][114] and a message before the campaign also notifies players of the disturbing material. The game was discussed briefly in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom after the issue was brought to the attention of MP Keith Vaz, a longtime opponent of violence in video games, with fellow Labour Party politician Tom Watson arguing that the level was "no worse than scenes in many films and books" and criticising Vaz for "collaborating with the Daily Mail to create moral panic over the use of video games".[115] The mission was made optional before release[116] and removed from the game entirely.[117] Activision later removed the Favela multiplayer map from Modern Warfare 2 following complaints from Muslim gamers, which shows picture frames on the second floor bathroom of one building within Favela. When viewed through a scoped weapon, the frames contain a quote from Muhammad that translates to "Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty", according to Islam Today. One of the paintings is located directly above a toilet.[118]

2010s

Release date	Title	Platform	Developer	Reason(s)
2010	Medal of Honor	PS3, Xbox 360, PC	Danger Close Games, EA Digital Illusions CE	The multiplayer mode created controversy when it was revealed that players could play as the Taliban.[119] The developers responded by stating the reality of the game necessitated it, but due to pressure from various military officials and veterans organizations, the word "Taliban" was subsequently removed from the multiplayer part of the game in which players would directly play as the Taliban, instead replaced with the term "Opposing Force." However, even in light of this change, the game is still not to be sold on military bases. The AAFES Commander Maj. Gen. Bruce Casella said, "Out of respect to those touched by the ongoing, real-life events presented as a game, Exchanges will not be carrying this product." He continued, "I expect the military families who are authorized to shop the Exchange are aware, and understanding, of the decision not to carry this particular offering."[120][121]
2010 (cancelled)	Six Days in Fallujah	PS3, Xbox 360, PC	Atomic Games	Shortly after the announcement of the game, Six Days was met with criticism by war veterans from the United Kingdom, as well as from a British pressure group, Stop the War Coalition.[122]
2011	Bulletstorm	PS3, Xbox 360, PC	Electronic Arts	Fox News Channel called out the title as the "Worst Video Game in the World" due to the extreme amount of violence; claims made in the original article were dispelled by video game journalists including Rock Paper Shotgun, but Fox News continues to assert the game as too violent.[123]
2011	Portal 2	PS3, Xbox 360, PC	Valve	CBS News has deemed the game offensive to adopted children because Wheatley insults the protagonist by saying "Fatty fatty no parents". The daughter of the parents who reported this is in fact, adopted.[124]
2011	Call of Juarez: The Cartel	PS3, Xbox 360, PC	Ubisoft	Residents of Ciudad Juárez and Mexico protested the announcement of the game, believing it to highlight the Juárez Cartel, who are believed to be responsible for over 3,000 homicides in the city in 2010.[125]
2011	Dead Island	PS3, Xbox 360, PC	Deep Silver	After a development build of the game was released on Steam by mistake, it was revealed that the skill 'Gender Wars' (which the character Purna uses) was called 'FeministWhorePurna' within the game's code. Developer Deep Silver apologised and released a patch for the game to replace the offensive name.[126]
2011 (start of development)	Star Citizen	PC	Cloud Imperium Games	A crowdfunded game, Star Citizen has attracted criticism for the constant, frequent delays of the game's release deadlines, while continuing to raise additional funds,[127][128] with the developers facing legal actions from Derek Smart[129] and CryTek[130] as well as taking similar legal actions against critics of the development and funding practices associated with the game.[131][132]
2011–2016	Gal Gun series	Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Nintendo Switch, PC	Inti-Creates	The Gal Gun series has been criticized by western critics due to allowing players to sexually exploit underage women. Inti-Creates was forced by Microsoft to censor the Xbox 360 version due to players being able to look up the girls' skirts, while the PlayStation 3 version remained completely uncensored.[133] The sequel, Gal Gun: Double Peace, which was released internationally, was banned in New Zealand for the same reason.[134]
2012	Counter-Strike: Global Offensive	PS3, Xbox 360, PC (Steam)	Valve	In 2016, the game came under fire on the grounds of several players using third-party betting through the use of skin gambling, wherein players sell in-game cosmetics for real currency. This led to concerns of potential underage players participating in "skin gambling", which may lead to future gambling addictions, as well as the potential of match fixing within the game's competitive scene (see iBUYPOWER and NetcodeGuides.com match fixing scandal). Valve has since ordered a cease and desist against many Counter-Strike gambling websites.[135][136]
2012	Medal of Honor: Warfighter	PS3, Xbox 360, PC	Danger Close Games	Several members of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU) who worked as consultants for the game were disciplined for releasing classified information to the game's creators.[137][138]
2012	Street Fighter X Tekken	PS3, Xbox 360, PC, iOS, PlayStation Vita	Capcom, Dimps	It was revealed that the game's downloadable characters were already on the disc in a ready-to-unlock form, leading to heavy criticism.[139][140]
2012	Persona 4 Arena	PS3, Xbox 360	Atlus, Arc System Works	The PlayStation 3 version of the game includes a regional lockout, allowing the game to be played only if the game's region matches the console region, despite the fact that PlayStation 3 games are normally region-free, leading to a massive fan outrage.[141][142] The game's sequel, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax however, was region-free.[143]
2012	Mass Effect 3	PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii U	BioWare	While critically acclaimed overall, the ending of Mass Effect 3 was highly criticized as, among other issues, rendered all the decisions players had made in the trilogy, carried over through save files, moot, in contrast to marketing material BioWare had put forth for the game.[144] Due to a large reaction from the player base, BioWare released free downloadable content that provided a more cinematic ending sequence that addressed some of these concerns.[145]
2013	Payday 2	PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch	Overkill Software	Payday 2, while having featured a large array of downloadable content, had been claimed by its developers would never include microtransactions. However, a major game update released in October 2015 included rewards that required the player to use real-world money to purchase keys to unlock, and with rewards that may not be usable if the player did not buy certain pieces of downloadable content. Fans of the game reacted negatively to the change.[146] In May 2016, Overkill was able to acquire full rights to the Payday series, and among other announcements relating to the series, announced they would remove the microtransactions from Payday 2.[147]
2013	Tomb Raider	PS3, Xbox 360, PC	Crystal Dynamics	During an interview with Kotaku, executive producer Ron Rosenberg stated that one scene in the game depicts Lara Croft about to be sexually assaulted by a scavenger. She is forced to fight back and kill him in self-defense. Prior to the game's release, this quickly led to controversy concerning the possible "attempted rape" sequence. Studio manager Darrell Gallagher later denied this, stating that one of "the character defining moments for Lara in the game, which has incorrectly been referred to as an 'attempted rape' scene is the content we showed" where "Lara is forced to kill another human for the first time. In this particular selection, while there is a threatening undertone in the sequence and surrounding drama, it never goes any further than the scenes that we have already shown publicly. Sexual assault of any kind is categorically not a theme that we cover in this game."[148][149]
2013	Saints Row IV	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC	Volition	Despite changes in the Australian Classification Board to adopt rules to use the R18+ rating for video games in January 2013, Saints Row IV was the first video game under these new rules to be denied classification, due to the presence of drug use and an in-game alien anal probe weapon.[150] Volition eliminated these elements from the game to obtain a MA15+ rating by removing the mission these elements were used in,[151] thus rendering the game's co-operative mode incompatible with versions from other countries.[152]
2013	The Stanley Parable	PC	Galactic Cafe	An in-game instructional video called "Choice" contained an image of a white man lighting a black child on fire.[153]
2014	South Park: The Stick of Truth	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC	Obsidian Entertainment, South Park Digital Studios	The game was censored (by Ubisoft's decision) in Europe and Australia due to its depiction of an anal probing by aliens and the player-character performing an abortion. In their place, the game displays either a still image of a statue holding its face in its hand, or a crying koala, with an explicit description of events depicted in the scene. The German version was specifically censored because of the use of Nazi- and Hitler-related imagery, including swastikas and Nazi salutes, which in that country are outlawed outside of the context of "art or science, research or teaching".[154] The PC version remains completely uncut in Europe.[155]
2015	Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number	PC	Dennaton Games	The sequel, like the first Hotline Miami, incorporates a large amount of violence as the player sets to kill off agents of the local mafia, but a preview build for the sequel includes a scene that is set up wherein the player's character then appears to rape a female antagonist, though this is later presented in the context of being part of a staged movie scene. Journalists felt that even though the game made it clear of the scene's setup, the inclusion of this scene went too far in taste levels.[156] Despite some changes and assurances made by the developer, the scene in the game caused the Australian Classification Board to refuse to classify the game, effectively preventing legal sale of the title in that country.[157]
2015	Hatred	PC	Destructive Creations	A game about a suicidal mass murderer, in which the primary mechanic is about shooting innocent civilians in the murderer's fit of rage. The CEO behind Hatred has been accused of having neo-Nazi, anti-Islamic affiliations due to liking some pages on Facebook related to such beliefs.[158] The title has been highly controversial, and when the developers attempted to place it on the Steam Greenlight service, it was pulled by Valve due to the game's content; however, it has been brought back onto Greenlight by Gabe Newell, and later apologized for the removal.[159] The game was rated "Adults Only" (AO) by the ESRB, which prevents retail sales and its release on consoles and would likely prevent its sale on digital storefronts for personal computers.[160]
2015	Playing History 2 - Slave Trade	PC	Serious Games	The game was created by Serious Games as an edutainment title to teach the user about slave trading. One game mode in the title was called "Slave Tetris", with the goal to try to fit as many African slaves on a boat as possible, using gameplay similar to Tetris; the developer had intended to show how inhumane the slave traders were and how such trade boats were packed to capacity, stating "it really gets people to think about just how absurd and cruel it is". When the mode was discovered by a wider audience due to discounted sales of the game and Let's Play broadcasts of it, many critics expressed distaste for the mode, considering it to be highly insensitive. The developer pulled the mode from the game following this outrage.[161]
2015	Survival Island 3	iOS and Android	NIL Entertainment	A first-person action game in which the fair-skinned player-character has to fight and kill Indigenous Australians while destroying Australian fauna. After a Change.org petition, the game was pulled from the App Store and Google Play.[162]
2015	Pakistan Army Retribution	Android		A first-person shooter game, based upon the 2014 Peshawar school massacre. Developed as part of the Peaceful Pakistan peace campaign, the game allowed the player to control a soldier during the attack and kill Taliban terrorists. After a negative review on the website of newspaper DAWN, calling the game to be of "poor taste",[163] other people also expressed criticism.[164] The game was subsequently pulled from the Google Play Store in January 2016.
2016	Overwatch	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One	Blizzard Entertainment	A team-based multiplayer shooter which includes a number of unique characters, and matches concluded with the winning character doing one of several possible victory poses that can be selected by the player. Some players found that the victory pose for one character (a young woman named Tracer who is also shown on the game's cover art) was overtly sexual and reduced the character to a "bland female sex symbol".[165] Blizzard removed the offending pose, replacing it with a pin-up model-inspired pose.[166]
2016	Street Fighter V	PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows	Capcom, Dimps	An update for the PC version of the game released in September 2016 included a device driver named Capcom.sys, as a part of the game's anti-cheat measures, which was seen by players and security analysts as a rootkit. Capcom has since provided a rollback.[167] In 2017, an update which added M. Bison's classic Street Fighter II stage was taken down after fans noticed Islamic chants in what was actually a Buddhist temple.[168]
2016	Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear	Microsoft Windows	Beamdog	Siege of Dragonspear is an expansion atop Beamdog's Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, itself a remastering of the original 1998 game, providing a narrative to explain events between Baldur's Gate and its sequel. Though the game was criticized by players on its release due to a number of software bugs, a controversy arose at what was perceived as a forced political agenda by the developers, in particular the inclusion of a transgender character.[169]
2016	Pokémon Go	iOS, Android	Niantic, Inc., Nintendo	Pokémon Go gained significant controversy after the game allegedly inspired criminals to commit robberies using the augmented reality feature. CNN reported that the geolocation feature was used for robbers to find and capture victims.[170]
2016	Persona 5	PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4	Atlus	Within the game's dialog include scenes between main character Ryuji, a high school student, and two other effeminate men. Many fans of the series and critics commented poorly on these scenes as they showed the two men using stereotypical presentation of overly sexualized gay men, and appeared to be inappropriate attempts at creating sexual relationship between them and Ryuji as a minor.[171] Due to these complaints, Atlus announced for release of the expanded content in Persona 5 Royal, released in Japan in 2019 and in Western regions in 2020, that they would alter these scenes with updated lines "for the current generation".[172]
2017	Fight of Gods	Microsoft Windows	PQube	Fight of Gods was designed as a satirical fighting game between various religious and mythical god or godlike figures. In September 2017, after Jesus was added as a playable character, the government of Malaysia considered the game "blasphemous", demanded Valve remove the game from Steam, and had its ISPs temporarily block the country's access to Steam. Valve eventually blocked sales of the game in Malaysia, allowing the service to be restored in the country.[173][174]
2017	Star Wars Battlefront II	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One	Electronic Arts	In November 2017, the game received unfavorable critical attention when its loot box monetization scheme during its open beta period was revealed, which many felt was a "pay-to-win" scheme since some loot box rewards directly influenced multiplayer gameplay. Electronic Arts revisited the loot box approach prior to launch to address those concerns.[175] Just before the game's full launch, it was revealed that many of the playable heroes in the game would be locked until the player had earned enough in-game credits over time, or spent money on microtransactions to unlock them faster, further raising player criticism. Electronic Arts attempted to justify the change on the game's subforum at Reddit but it was met with outrage, making that comment the most down-voted Reddit post of all time.[176] Hours before the game's release, EA temporarily disabled all microtransactions for the game to review concerns by players and rework these in-currency systems after launch.[177]
2018	Standoff	Microsoft Windows	Revived Games	Originally titled Active Shooter, the game was developed by Revived Games and was published by Acid Games in June 2018 on Steam. The game presented a first-person shooter based on a fictional school shooting scenario, with the game's description stating that the player can choose to be the SWAT team member to take down the suspects, or the students firing on the school. The game, which appeared on Steam shortly following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February 2018, came under criticism from students, parents, and politicians, directing concern towards the developers, publisher, and Valve for trying to profit off an emotional distressing situation.[178] Before the game could be released, Valve pulled the game and the developer from Steam, citing prior issues with "asset reuse" games by the developer and manipulation of Steam reviews.[179]
2018	Agony	PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch	Madmind Studio	A dark fantasy survival horror video game that puts players into the perspective of a tormented soul within the depths of Hell devoid of any memories whatsoever about its past. The special ability to control people on their path, and possess weak-minded demons, gives players the necessary measures to survive in the extreme conditions they are in.[180] Agony is infamous for being one of only four games to have received the "Adults Only" rating from ESRB due to violence and other extreme graphic content (including gay and lesbian sex scenes and genital physics), following The Punisher, Manhunt 2, and Hatred. The game was re-rated "Mature" after the developers agreed to tone down the violence, which also led to PEGI rating the game 18. A planned "Adults Only" unrated patch for PC was later dropped due to "legal issues".[181] However, on June 6, 2018, the developers said they were "talking with Steam representatives" about offering Agony Unrated as "a separate title produced and published by Madmind Studio and without the involvement of any publishers." For those who already own the original game, this version will be either free DLC or a separate purchase at 99% off, which currently is the highest possible discount on Steam's platform.[182] After announcing the financial problems of the company and canceling the Unrated version of the game, the basic game docked on August 1, 2018, with a considerable amount of updates on the platforms on which it debuted.[183]
2018	Bolsomito 2K18	PC	BS Studios	Bolsomito 2K18, a brawler game where the player fights "the evils of communism" and "the growing corruption and inversion of values that plagues [sic] his society", according to its description, while in-game, this is represented as attacking women, minorities, and LGBTQ persons. The game was released on Steam two days prior to the October 2018 Brazilian general election, where one of the candidates in the election was Jair Bolsonaro, thus inspiring the game's name. Bolsonaro was considered a far-right candidate in the election and led after the first round of voting. The Brazilian Public Ministry of the Federal District and Territories has opened an investigation on both Valve and BS Studios, stating that the game and its close release to the elections "clearly intends to harm [the] Presidency of the Republic and thereby embarrass the 2018 elections" and "cause collective moral damages to the movements social, gays and feminists".[184][185]
2018	Diablo Immortal	iOS/Android	Blizzard Entertainment	Diablo Immortal, a mobile game port was announced at the 2018 BlizzCon event, with Blizzard having teased something Diablo related in the weeks prior. Upon the announcement, fans at the event booed the presentation, and other fans took to social media to express discontentment with the announcement. Complaints from gamers ranged from concern that Diablo Immortal was a re-skin of a previous game developed by NetEase (who are also developing Immortal), to issues related to Blizzard longtime fans of the series by not releasing Diablo 4 on computer or home console. The situation was further stressed when Kotaku had claimed that inside sources told them that Blizzard had pulled a Diablo 4 announcement at the last minute, which Blizzard refuted the next day.[186][187][188]
2018	Assassin's Creed Odyssey	PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Stadia	Ubisoft	The main storyline in Assassin's Creed Odyssey features the ability to select one of two playable characters, the male Alexios or the female Kassandra, and gave players the ability to interact with non-player characters in various romance options, including gay relationships; this feature was stressed by Ubisoft in its promotional material for the game, given that they did not want to force the player into any specific relationship. In the finale of the game's downloadable content, "Legacy of the First Blade", the chosen character is shown to have settled down with a spouse of the opposite gender in a romantic relationship and raised a child, which ran against those who had chosen to role-play their character in gay relationships from the main game. Ubisoft apologized, stating that they wanted to show how the character's bloodline continued into future generations of Assassins, but agreed to change the story of the content.[189] Ubisoft released an update for this content in February 2019 that alters the end scenes to show that those who opted to play their character as gay will enter into a non-romantic relationship with a spouse for purposes of continuing the bloodline, retaining the romantic choices the player otherwise made before, as well as changing the achievement name for reaching this point from "Growing up" to "Blood of Leonidas" to avoid implications made by the former.[190][191]
2018	Super Seducer	PC	Red Dahlia Interactive	Super Seducer, billed as "the world's most realistic seduction simulator", in which the player is taught by a pickup artist how to pick up women by going through multiple choice questions accompanied by video clips, came under fire by a number of left wing critics, who one described it as the "world’s sleaziest game"[192] and another for "normalizing rape culture"[193] Prior to its release, the game had its crowdfunding campaign suspended by Kickstarter, according to its press release was due to "inappropriate content, including but not limited to offensive or pornographic material" and "spamming or abusive behavior, offering rewards in violation of Kickstarter's rules."[194][195] During release, the developer came under fire for ordering a DMCA takedown request against a YouTuber after he made a video critiquing the game.[196][197] Its release on PlayStation 4 was pulled by Sony shortly before it was due for release.[198]
2019	Devotion	PC	Red Candle	The Taiwanese horror game Devotion drew backlash from Chinese players after two Easter eggs were discovered that mocked Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping, who is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. The first Easter egg consisted of a poster with text written on it referring to the president as a "Winnie-the-Pooh moron"; the children's literature character had previously been blocked online by the Chinese government for being heavily featured in Internet memes comparing him to Jinping. The second Easter egg consisted of a newspaper describing the incarceration of an individual under the alias "Steamed Bun," a euphemism for Jinping used by his critics to evade federal censorship. Following a review bombing campaign, developer Red Candle apologized for the Easter eggs' inclusion and stated that they would refund offended players. Reports from Chinese social media users also claimed that the game was pulled from Steam as a result of the controversy.[199][200]
2019	Rape Day	PC	Desk Plant	Rape Day was listed as an upcoming title on Steam around early March 2019; according to its description, Rape Day was a "dark comedy and power fantasy" visual novel that allowed the player to "[control] the choices of a menacing serial killer rapist during a zombie apocalypse." The game's store page included numerous warnings related to the content, including "violence, sexual assault, non-consensual sex, obscene language, necrophilia, incest, and the death of a baby". Many journalists quickly expressed concern about the game's content based on the description and troubling screenshots and how it appeared to glorify rape, and opined that the game would be a type of litmus test of Valve's recently-developed hands-off policy in terms of Steam storefront curation, believing Valve should block the game. By March 6, 2019, Valve had issued a statement that it will not allow the game to be published on Steam, and removed its upcoming store page. In the company's statement, Valve said "We respect developers’ desire to express themselves, and the purpose of Steam is to help developers find an audience, but this developer has chosen content matter and a way of representing it that makes it very difficult for us to help them do that."[201][202]
2019	Ion Fury	PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch	Voidpoint	Initially titled Ion Maiden, Ion Fury was forced to change its title when the game's publisher was challenged with a trademark infringement lawsuit by the band Iron Maiden. After release, players found language within the game that was considered by some to be homophobic: a bottle of lotion labeled "Ogay" (parodying the brand Olay) and an inaccessible room containing the word "fagbag", allegedly a spoof on the title of the Duke Nukem theme song. Additionally, players on the game's Discord server found that some of the developers had previously used language insensitive to transgender causes. Developer Voidpoint and publisher 3D Realms apologized for the poor language, and vowed to donate US$10,000 to The Trevor Project as well as patch out the offensive content. A week later, facing backlash from confused players who thought the entire game was to be censored, Voidpoint and 3D Realms clarified that they were not censoring content intended to be included in the game and were only removing the offensive word found within the inaccessible area, though still stressing that the behavior on Discord was unacceptable.[203]
2019	NBA 2K20	PlayStation 4, Xbox One	2K Games	Prior to the game's own release, NBA 2K20 received severe backlash for microtransactions components being advertised in a trailer which has blatant similarities to a casino. The heavy focus on these components in conjunction with the option to spend real-world currency on it has also caused many to criticize both PEGI and the ESRB for giving the game each organization's lowest possible age rating despite both boards claiming that gambling content, simulated or not, would warrant a significantly higher age rating.[204]

2020s

Release date	Title	Platform	Developer	Reason(s)
2020	Animal Crossing: New Horizons	Nintendo Switch	Nintendo EPD	The game was pulled from Chinese online digital sales as it allowed users to create their own displays in game, some which were used to support the ongoing protests favoring Hong Kong.[205]
2020	Cooking Mama: Cookstar	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4	1st Playable Productions	The game was made without permission of the IP holder Office Create, which started a legal dispute against the game's publisher Planet Entertainment[206], resulting the removal of the game on the Nintendo eShop and an extremely limited print run.

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See also

• List of banned video games
• List of regionally censored video games
• List of video games considered the best
• List of video games notable for negative reception
• Research on the effects of violence in mass media

External links

• Sexual Moments in Video Game History from I-Mockery
• The Top 7... Controversies Waiting to Happen: Sex! Murder! Godless blasphemy and animal abuse! How could the media possibly miss these button-pushing games? by GamesRadar
• The Top 7... Most Evil Games: See the most racist, hateful and tasteless titles you wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole by GamesRadar