Germany has decided against a nation-wide ban on the distribution and creation of violent video games that was brought up back in June of last year.
According to German website Game Captain, a petition with 73,000 signatures against the ban forced the issue to be looked into by the Committee on Petitions. The petitioner was then allowed to speak, and suggested more education on media instead of a ban.
Parliament State Secretary Dr. Herman Kues, of the Federal Ministry for Home Affairs has since announced that "no changes to the current criminal code would be enacted." The country’s government will now instead take up the petitioner’s suggestion and put more focus on the education of the PEGI ratings.
In a supportive response to this act, EA Senior VP Dr Jens Uwe Intat told GamesIndustry.biz that, "The German decision is a very welcome step as we encourage policy makers to better understand the reality of today’s videogame market and give games the same respect as books, films or music."
