Manhunt 2 Might Not Make It Out Alive

The future doesn’t look too promising for the newest Rockstar game with Nintendo & Sony not supporting the release of an Adults Only game.

Chances are you’ve heard by now that Manhunt 2 has been banned by in Great Britain and has been given an Adults Only (AO) rating in America. With the blacklisting of the original Manhunt 6 months after release in Australia and the banning overseas, the release of Manhunt 2 in this country certainly looks grim.

However what you may not know is that while you can buy Adults Only games in America, Sony and Nintendo both oppose the AO rating for their games. This means that while an AO rating has been given in America, neither Nintendo or Sony will let Rockstar release the game regardless.

This leaves Rockstar, the makers of hits like the Grand Theft Auto series and the controversial Bully, in a really interesting position. They now pretty much have the choice of either reworking parts of the game, killing the game altogether and not releasing it, or appealing the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s decision in the hopes that they can argue their case and get the game classified under a different rating.

Meanwhile, Australia’s lack of an R18+ ratings classification for games means the future of this title in Australia is in doubt. While we have an R18+ rating for movies, one for gaming has never been established making it impossible for video game titles with explicit nature in them to be released in this country.

Kotaku talks to Nintendo & Sony