Highlights
- Nintendo has removed an indie game called Need for Spirit: Drink & Drive Simulator from the Switch eShop due to a mismatch in its PEGI rating and its content.
- The game, developed by Atomic Fabrik, focuses on a professional driver battling alcoholism while delivering alcohol to parties. It uses a camera manipulation technique to simulate drunkenness.
- PEGI ratings require games with alcohol, drug, or tobacco usage to be rated 16+ or 18+. However, the eShop version of the game was mistakenly rated 3+, leading to its removal. PEGI is investigating the issue.
Nintendo pulled a drunk driving simulation game from the Nintendo Switch eShop due to it having a PEGI rating that does not match its content. Switch eShop titles have been removed numerous times before.
The eShop is a feature that has been present on every single piece of Nintendo hardware since the Nintendo 3DS. Pretty much every game that gets a physical release on these recent platforms gets a digital one on the same day, and there is a whole slew of games, including many indie titles, that remain exclusive to the store. As of 2023, the eShop is currently only available on Switch, with the Wii U and 3DS versions having officially shut down.
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As reported by Eurogamer, one of such indie titles is named Need for Spirit: Drink & Drive Simulator, developed by Chisinau-based studio Atomic Fabrik, and released in late 2018 for Steam, with the Switch eShop port arriving in mid-October this year. The game is a first-person driving simulator that, unlike some of its contemporaries, trades in the asphalt raceways for the great outdoors. It centers on a professional driver who has to deliver alcohol to parties while navigating the harsh roads and battling his own alcoholism. Need for Spirit prides itself on the way it manipulates its camera to simulate drunkenness. While no rating is present on its Steam page, it has been rated PEGI 16+ on The Epic Games Store due to the heavy usage of booze in the game.
PEGI handles game ratings in Europe, and mandates that every game be rated 16+ or 18+ if it contains any alcohol, drug, or tobacco usage. However, the eShop version was rated 3+, which implies it's intended for all ages. As such, Nintendo pulled the game down until it can get a suitable content evaluation. More than likely, this inappropriate rating was issued by the International Age Rating Coalition, which allows game publishers to submit their own ratings and then evaluating them using multiple tactics to see if they match the games in question. Nintendo has not commented on the situation at time of writing.
For a lot of gamers, seeing a game they might have had an interest in leaving a digital store is never fun, and fans have had to deal with that on the Nintendo eShop multiple times. Fortunately, while Need for Spirit is still not available on Switch, PEGI has reported that this rating mishap is already under investigation, hoping to put the game back on the eShop with a proper rating.
Need for Spirit: Drink & Drive Simulator is available on PC, with a Switch version coming at a later date.
Source: Eurogamer
