What a stupid law. C'mon Germany, it's not the Dark Age anymore...

Nintendo will never step over the line, only third parties will. Germany only needs to worry about Sony and Microsoft if that is their problem.

I can agree that it is annoying that this German law is applied throughout Europe.

But how is this the laws fault? Its intention is to prevent minors from accessing/buying adult rated content. What would really be stupid is not applying this at all to downloadable content. That would be effectively bypassing this law.

What sucks here is the application by Nintendo which I am sure could have been handled differently.

I blame Barozi, he is German right.

But that is no news, Germany can´t handle viloence since the with this one dud 70 years ago. You can´t even watch "Girls play The Walking" on GAmeOne before 10pm

Maybe they should move their HQ?

No matter how you put this, its still a fuckup from Nintendos part, and yet another reason why they will always remain behind their competitors, when it comes down to online services.

I already made extensive posts on Joystiq about this:

There is no such law in Germany for games or any retail/digital content. If there were such a law it would not be possible to buy Saints Row 3, Halo Reach, God of War 3, GTA IV or any other 18+ game at any German retailer during daytime. But as I said it's not, you can buy all of those, nude mags and melee weapons at any given time.
The only law that restricts mature content has to do with television, where 16+ content needs to be broadcasted around 10pm and 18+ content around 11pm. But even that is only valid for non pay TV channels.
There MIGHT me a different law, one that doesn't allow online distributors to sell 18+ games without verifying that the customer is over 18 years old. But this has NOTHING to do with time, so it's not related to anything Nindendo said.
IF Nintendo doesn't have such a measure in their eShop and a 6 year old child is able to order ZombiU from Nintendo's own online store then I don't see why anyone is blaming Germany.

Every publisher has to abide by the German law if they target German customers or else they're facing massive problems. They don't need to be located here.

Does Microsoft sell Gears of War 1 and 2 here ? No they don't because they were too violent to get a 18+ rating. They aren't "banned" though, simply because MS decided to not release them here.

Can Steam sell uncut games to their German customers ? Nope

Every game that is rated 18+ can be advertised and sold at retail or online at any given time.

There is no WiiU game that is too violent to not get a rating. ZombiU got a 18+ rating, so Ubisoft can sell it anywhere at any time.Look at other German located online shops:

http://www.buch.de/shop/home/suchartikel/zombiu/EAN3307215654347/ID32404779.html?fftrk=1%3A1%3A10%3A1&jumpId=13414319

not even 1pm and I can buy it, even though the store is located in Germany.

Some bonus information about the rating system:

A game that is too violent to get a 18+ rating has three choices:

1. It gets released, but doesn't get a rating, which means that it cannot be openly distributed or advertised. It can still be sold though, but hidden from the younger audience ! (that is unless the German justice says it cannot be distributed at all)

2. The developer cuts the most violent parts out of the game and tries to get a 18+ rating that way (the most common way)

3. It doesn't get released because the developer or publisher doesn't want to cut anything to get a 18+ rating (Gears of War 1+2, Crackdown). That's their own decision.


German Ratings:

USK 0
USK 6
USK 12
USK 16
USK 18
Rating denied (can still be sold !)
Confiscated (= banned)

The last two are not official ratings. Examples:
USK 18 - ZombiU
Rating denied - Dead Island
Confiscated - Manhunt

Everyone is always quick to blame Germany for their current problems. We have a joke here that goes something like this:

Question: How many Germans does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Answer: Just one... but in Germany's days of glory, we could have 1000 people screw in a lightbulb at just the snap of our fingers.

This is ridiculous. Move headquarters? I don't think it's as simple as that. No company likes to lose money, not 0.00001% of them, this is not intentional from Nintendo's part.

It's the same as saying "The yen is strong, hurting Sony... maybe if they just move HQ away from Japan... that'll solve this. Why not?"

They have to abide by the laws of all countries but the coutnry you operate from takes all priority.    So while a customer in the UK may buy a game online, they are still buying it from a German store.   That law applies to the store, not the customer.

With the reverse (PSN, for example), a German citizen would be bound by his local laws while the PSN store is bound by the laws of the UK.

Ninja Gaiden 3 and Bayonetta 2 might want a word with you.

Differently how?

Move their HQ?  Just pick up several hundred Germans and repost them where?   And at what cost?  You make it sound like it's a simple thing to do.

And how is it a fuck up on their part?  They didn't write or enact the law.   If a major distributor wanted to sell alcohol in Saudi Arabia but the law won't let them, is that somehow the distributor's fuck up?

Well that's a stupid law. Luckily though, not many games will be affected by it.