Neat! id Software’s parent company, ZeniMax Media, just won an important appeal for the Doom franchise in Germany. According to an official post on the Bethesda blog, Doom and Doom II have been de-listed by the Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons following some smart court action. This will undoubtedly pave the way for unedited versions of the PC games to hit the country and, hey, presumably even an App Store release or two if things swing our way.
For you score keepers out there, id Software has released three games in the franchise on the US App Store so far: Doom Classic [$6.99], Doom II RPG [$4.99], and Doom: Resurrection [$6.99].
The two older games now are 16+ games which means, essentially, that they can actually be sold without substantial edits. Before, the original titles obviously couldn’t without restrictions. Anecdotally, this rating change comes on the heels of Epic Games’ Gears of War 3 grabbing an 18+ rating — a first for a monstrously violent and bloody franchise classically indexed by the ratings board.
Other id titles like Quake and Wolfenstein remain too naughty for the time being, though I’d imagine appeals are either coming or in the works already considering this victory. Wolfenstein un-edited might present the greater problems of the two for a couple of obvious reasons.
So, what’s next? The Bethesda blow says the studio is working to “make both Dooms available widely” in Germany, which makes us think we’ll see more than one version of the titles will hit. Unfortunately, we’re not aware of its plans.
[Via Gamasutra]
