Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Last of Us Part II may face ban in some Middle East countries. But why?

Don Reisinger
By

As the world prepares for the launch of The Last of Us Part II on June 19, people living in at least two Middle East countries may be out of luck.

Recommended Videos

The Last of Us Part II is unavailable in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), despite being available for pre-order in the U.S. and dozens of other countries. Reddit users first discovered the conspicuous omission earlier this month, which Digital Trends has since confirmed. As of this writing, Sony still hasn’t updated its store with pre-order options for those nations.

Related

It’s unclear why the game isn’t available in those two countries, and Sony did not respond to a Digital Trends request for comment on the omission. Although both countries generally have more conservative views on entertainment than other regions where pre-orders are available, even graphic content doesn’t appear to be a disqualifying factor.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) recently gave The Last of Us Part II an M for Mature rating, saying that it features nudity and sexual content, along with gore and drug use. Other games with the same ratings and type of content are authorized for sale in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The Last of Us Part II tells the story of protagonists Ellie and Joel five years after they made their way across a postapocalyptic U.S. to settle in Jackson, Wyoming. The game will focus on Ellie and her pursuit for justice in an increasingly violent world.

Is the story to blame?

IGN speculated that depicting Ellie, an openly gay character, engaging in a romantic relationship with another woman named Dina could be the reason for the exclusion. Gameplay footage released in 2018 showed Ellie passionately kissing another female character, and other leaks point to Ellie’s personal life playing a factor in the storyline.

In 2016, researchers at Franklin and Marshall College published the Global Barometer of Gay Rights (GBGR), a multiyear analysis of how countries around the world treat gay people. Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia scored an F, a grade given to countries that persecute gay people.

While it’s certainly possible that local feelings towards homosexuality impacted The Last of Us Part II, there’s also reason to believe they may not have played a role.

Players can still buy a variety of avatars from the game in PlayStation Stores in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and DLC from the first edition of The Last of Us featured Ellie kissing another woman. That was made available in both countries without any controversy.

For now, we don’t know what the game’s fate may be in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. And with Sony so far unwilling to discuss its status, it’s unclear whether it’ll skip over the Middle East or will make an appearance on launch day.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger is a freelance technology, video game, and entertainment journalist. He has been writing about the world of…
The Last of Us Part 1: best skill upgrades
Ellie draws back a bow in a The Last of Us Part 1 screenshot.

As a remake, The Last of Us Part 1 remains incredibly faithful to how the original played and the mechanics you had at your disposal. While some speculated that features or mechanics from The Last of Us Part 2 might find their way being retroactively included, that turned out not to be the case. For those who loved the original just as it was, this is great news to learn that nothing mechanically is different from the game you loved, but plenty of people who played the sequel might have some trouble adjusting.

While skills did exist in The Last of Us Part 2, they were mostly different skills split into different trees. The Last of Us Part 1 remains a bit more straightforward with its upgrades, but that also makes each decision you make on which to take or upgrade more important. Whether it's your first or fifth time joining Joel and Ellie on this journey across an infected America, you will want to make sure Joel is as well equipped as possible with the best skills you can get.
How skills work

Read more
We tasted The Last of Us Part II’s apocalyptic new whisky
A bottle of whiskey inspired by The Last of Us sits on a table.

Just before this year's Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, The Last of Us Part II developer Naughty Dog brought a group of fans, press, and staff to a small bar for a special event to celebrate the franchise's latest release. This wasn't The Last of Us Part I, which came out the next day; instead, they were there to debut a new whisky inspired by Part II called Moth & Wolf.

The event was held at Quinn's Pub in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. Its schedule featured a guided tasting of the new whisky, an appearance by Naughty Dog co-president and TLOU co-writer Neil Druckmann, and an acoustic set of six original songs by Troy Baker, the actor who voices Joel. While the whisky was the star of the show, the event itself also served as a somber goodbye for Baker, who officially closed out his time with TLOU.
Taste the apocalypse
Moth & Wolf is the latest product from the Digital Spirits project by Chivas Brothers, which is arguably best-known for its eponymous blended whisky Chivas Regal. Digital Spirits' aim, according to Chivas' Kevin Balmforth, is to "get closer to what fans are passionate about," by making spirits that are influenced by modern forms of entertainment like video games. Balmforth is the master brewer at the distillery that created Moth & Wolf, and describes himself as having been a "big gamer" even before coming aboard the collaboration, which has been nearly two years in the making.

Read more
The Last of Us Part I makes Part II’s flaws much more apparent
Ellie aiming a rifle.

The Last of Us Part I may not be meaningfully different from the original game or its 2014 remaster, but the context around the franchise has notably changed. That’s because of The Last of Us Part II, a sequel that’s spurred as much critical praise as it has heated debate. The 2020 release built on the first game’s strong foundation by delivering a more complex story that further muddied the “good guys vs. bad guys” trope we see in so much media. It's a story about cyclical violence where Joel’s actions at the end of the first game directly impact Ellie on her own misguided thirst for blood.

It's a bold game, one that’s significantly longer and larger to fit in all of its ideas. I respected Naughty Dog’s ambition when I played the sequel two years ago, but walked away feeling like it was as swollen as one of the series’ Bloaters. After revisiting both The Last of Us and its excellent Left Behind DLC in the new PS5 remake, I feel more sure of my original critique. The Last of Us works because it's a lean and focused game. Part II, on the other hand, makes it clear that excess is Naughty Dog’s Achilles' heel.
From lean to bloated
What I immediately noticed in my replay of The Last of Us is that there’s barely a wasted moment. From its tense opening sequence to its gripping final hour, most scenes play a crucial role in the story. For instance, the winter-set chapter where Ellie takes charge serves as an important way to show how Joel’s ruthlessness has begun to infect her. My mind wandered once or twice during my 12-hour playthrough.

Read more