Already, the gaming community knew that Call of Duty: WW2 would paint a violent picture of the Second World War. However, it seems as though publisher Activision has at least tried to reduce the overall warnings surrounding the game in Australia, resulting in a controversial scene being modified in the Australian release of the title.
The Australian Classification Board initially rated the game at R18+ back in August, before being reinstated at R18+ at the beginning of this week. There was one difference in these two ratings of Call of Duty: WW2, however - a mention in the initial classification of "threat of sexual violence" has been removed.
In the initial submission of Call of Duty: WW2 for classification, there was a scene during a section of the game that implied a sexual assault was about to happen. Clearly, Activision and developer Sledgehammer Games have since worked to ensure that the warning of "threat of sexual violence" is no longer required. Below is a description of the scene itself, so content and spoiler warnings for the following.
The scene comes when the user is controlling Rousseau, one of the multiple playable characters of Call of Duty: WW2. Rousseau is infiltrating a German-controlled building, when she sees a woman being dragged into a closet by a Nazi soldier. The player is given the option of killing the soldier, but if they leave then the soldier was heard unzipping his fly and seen advancing towards the woman.
The classification board gave feedback to Activision in order to remove the "threat of sexual violence" warning, and so Call of Duty: WW2 was modified. The woman's clothing was altered to pants and a top rather than a skirt, the the audio of the fly being unzipped has been removed as well. That has been enough to remove the warning from the game.
At the moment, it's unclear whether this scene has been amended across all releases of Call of Duty: WW2, or whether it is just for the Australian release of the game. However, with the game launching at the start of November, it won't be long before fans in other parts of the world will discover for themselves.
Call of Duty: WW2 releases on November 3, 2017 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Kotaku