We Happy Few gets approved for Australia

Australia turned the thumbs-down on We Happy Few in May, citing the game's incentivized drug use—players take a faux-narcotic called "Joy" in order to blend in with society and avoid being murdered—as too far over the line for approval. Last week, however, the Classification Board announced that it would reconsider the ruling, and today it revealed that the appeal has been successful.

"A three-member panel of the Classification Review Board has unanimously determined that the computer game We Happy Few is classified R18+ (Restricted) with the consumer advice 'Fantasy violence and interactive drug use,'" the Classification Review Board said in its decision.

"In the Classification Review Board’s opinion We Happy Few warrants an R 18+ classification because the interactive drug use is high in impact. The overall impact of the classifiable elements in the computer game was no greater than high."

"We are extremely pleased with the decision of the board and excited that our Australian fans and new players will be able to experience We Happy Few without modification," Compulsion said in its own announcement. "We want to thank everybody who got involved in the discussion, contacted the board and sent us countless messages of support. Your involvement made a huge difference."

The R18+ rating means that adults will be legally allowed to purchase the game without having to horse around with proxy servers, overseas shipping, or whatever other trickery gamers down under are forced to fall back on when confronted with this kind of nonsense. We Happy Few is slated to come out on August 10.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.