Yes you heard it right. Dragon Age Inquistion, the latest game in the Dragon Age franchise from BioWare is not going to make it to Indian markets. The news riding on the shoulders of the game releasing in the US this week, and getting some pretty decent reviews.
EA announced it on the forums of their official site, yesterday. The official statements reads as follows:
In order to avoid a breach of local content laws, Electronic Arts has withdrawn Dragon Age: Inquisition from sale in India. Unfortunately, that means we’re unable to fulfil your Origin order.· All affected purchases for Dragon Age: Inquisition will be refunded. This applies regardless of payment method or date of purchase.
· Dragon Age: Inquisition may still temporarily appear in your Origin library, but it will be removed before its launch date.
What To Do if You Still Want To Play Dragon Age Inquisition
PC: Your best bet, buy it from a UK/US site and import it into India. People with access to torrents would have cheaper options.
Consoles: This is a little more straight-forward. If you have a profile whose regional setting is not India, then you can use that profile to buy/download the game onto your consoles. Keep in mind that you would have to pay in that region’s currency too. Thank god for Credit Card heh!
The Reason behind Cancelling Dragon Age Inquisition In India
The initial view was that the game had been retracted because it allows players to have homosexual relationships. This could have created controversy in India, which treats homosexuality as a criminal offense. The story was carried by various news portals and IGN themselves.
In a later statement to Kotaku though, EA clarified, that homosexuality was not the only reason, the game was not being released in India. Instead, it was pertaining to local laws of obscenity which was the reason behind the pull. Thought EA did not mention which specific law they were talking about.
When I tweeted and asked the team behind Dragon Age Keep (@DragonAgeKeep), they didn’t have a clear answer for me either.
@DragonAgeKeep is it true that Dragon Age Inquisition won't be releasing in India?
— Gameffine (@gameffine) November 19, 2014
This is not the first time, a game has been pulled from release in India. Fallout 3 did not release in India, because it featured 2 headed mutant cows called Brahmins. While the reason behind Fallout 3 was pretty clear and understandable, the reason behind Dragon Age Inquisition still remains a mystery.
Milestone Interactive the publishing house for EA games in India, had no comments regarding the pull. However, NDTV, did report a conversation with one of their representatives, where he/she said,
“… this refers to the game’s homosexual sex scenes. Rather than face the wrath of some of India’s more prudish segments of society, EA have pre-emptively decided to make the game unavailable in India, without confirming or commenting on which local laws were being breached.”
I can see where EA is coming from. India does a healthy share of hard-liners, and EA decided to pre-empt the controversy altogether, lest they spoil they sport friendly image in India. Though that begs the question, if homosexuality is the reason behind the pull, then why was the game released in Russia, another country where same sex relationships are illegal.
Is it because EA are not afraid of Russian? Is the Indian law too hard for even EA to crack? Or is it some other law altogether which we don’t know about. At this point, its only speculation, and you guess is as good as mine.
What we do know, however that Dragon Age Inquisition will not be launching in India, neither for the PC nor the consoles, which is a real shame because I was really looking forward to this RPG.
Tell us what you think of this move from EA, pulling out Inquisition so close to its release date. Also if you have any other method which allows an Indian player to play Dragon Age Inquisition, let us know in the comments.