The situation regarding censorship in the video game South Park: The Stick of Truth has become complicated. After the disastrous journey the title endured in Australia (see our detailed news), it seems that all of Europe will have to deal with alterations, as well. After Germany had reports about removed national-socialist symbols (a constant topic due to government regulations), more news that speak of further censorship that affects the versions for all European markets have surfaced. And to make it even more difficult, Eurogamer.de reports that only the console versions would be affected by these changes.

In the meantime, the first video game critics got their samples and the attached press material features information regarding the EU changes. The British website BT.com mentions censorship of 7 scenes (with a duration of approx. 20 seconds each) in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) version of the game:

“Seven scenes of about 20 seconds each are censored in the EMEA console versions of South Park: The Stick of Truth [...]  The decision to cut this content from the game was made by Ubisoft EMEA.”

Among those scenes, there are some of the ones that already offended the Australian Classification Board:

• A mini-game where a doctor is performing an abortion on the player.
• A mini-game where the player is performing an abortion on the character Randy.
• Five ‘anal probing’ scenes in which characters are ‘actively’ being probed.

The censored scenes in the EU will feature a special pictorial background with a text written personally by the series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

Additionally, the British website VG247 has something to say about the reason for the changes:

"Our local Ubisoft rep has been in touch to say that the censorship is purely a marketing decision and that the scenes are also censored in the UK."

After all these new developments, there's still no word about the swastika censorship that was actually already confirmed by Ubisoft for the German and PEGI versions. It's safe to assume that more news will have to be dedicated to the game's censorship.

If you want to avoid the EU or PEGI version, purchase the uncensored version of South Park: The Stick of Truth, at Amazon.com.