All violent video games to be banned in Germany

German ministers have today agreed to ban the production and distribution of all violent video games, with the law only having to go through parliament in the next few weeks. 

According to german website Chip Online and supported by Spiegel Online, ministers of the interior of all sixteen German federal states came together for a conference today in Bremerhaven where they agreed to forbid the production and distribution of all video games "where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or unhuman acts of violence against humans or manlike characters." 

The country has been infamously hard on violent video games before now, but an outright ban would result in a huge loss for the video games industry in one of its most successful European countries. 

The law would result in no Call of Duty, no God of War, no Crysis, no World of Warcraft, no BioShock, no Uncharted, and no Grand Theft Auto. 

Moreover, since a ban on the production of violent games would also be included in the law, German studios, such as Crytek, would have to outsource development to other countries. 

The law is hoped to come into effect before the country's federal elections in September. The minister of the interior of Lower Saxony commented: 

"Violent games lower the inhibition level for real violence and spree killers have again and again played such before they did the crime." 

Note the second part of that sentence: "spree killers have again and again played such before they did the crime." That's quite a statement; one we expect they'd like to support with the German school shootings on March 11th, which were linked to Counterstrike and Far Cry 2. 

For the law to become a reality it must go through parliament in the next few weeks or months. We'll keep you posted and hope the ministers are just blowing smoke. 
 
http://www.gamezine.co.uk/news/formats/xbox360/all-violent-video-games-be-banned-in-germany-$1301757.htm
 

Wow that would really suck...thats not right.

If that happened would there be actual consequnces for having a violent game or would they not be allowed to sell?

Damn...that would really suck. A lot. May as well kiss democracy goodbye in Germany if that's the case.

fucking nazis

This could be terrible. Crytek are one of the best developers of FPS games on the planet and they are the only real developers who are pushing PC development forward. Losing them would be a terrible blow for people who like to lay down $1500 on a gaming rig and have a game or two to justify the expense.

fucking retarded Law. I hope it comes around and bite them in the ass

well goodbye 90% of games in Germany if this comes to pass.
Maybe more - take Forza or GT or any driving game where you can cause a violent accident.
This won't end well.
Goodbye FFXIII/FFXIV too for that matter.

Germans already buy many games in Austria and the UK (because so many games are banned in Germany and games are cheapest in the UK). This would just make things worse.

However, I doubt more than a few thousand people would lose their jobs because of this. I hope there isn't an unemployment problem in Germany right now. I hope those thousands of people that lose their jobs because of this don't decide to turn violent to pay their bills.

Of course, even if folks do decide to become violent because of this, it's nothing to worry about.  After all, many weapons are banned in Germany.

This would cause a skyrocketing piracy ratio in Germany.

Oh yeah and for shops in western Poland, east France, Austria etc that would mean that christmas came earlier this year :)

If Germany goes this way, maybe some other EU countries will too.
That would suck big hairy donkey balls.