America is too prudish for the flapping wangs of 'Conan Exiles,' apparently
Conan Exiles just got a lot less hilarious.
When the online survival game for ripped barbarian wish fulfillment launches in early access for Xbox One on Aug. 16, it will have 100 percent fewer naked bodies. Also: 100 percent less hilarity.
There was much noise around the game's PC launch, which includes character creation sliders for both "breast size" and "endowment." If you're struggling to comprehend that second one: you can equip your male barbarian with a super-peen.
This artful GIF from back in January sums it up well.
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Blame the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), North America's video game ratings group-slash-fun police. In order to nab its M rating, Exiles developer Funcom was forced to embrace "partial nudity," covering up the naughty bits on male and female characters.
That's according to Funcom community manager Jens Erik, as Eurogamer spotted during a recent Xbox One stream.
"The reason for this is if we included full nudity in Conan Exiles, this would have resulted in a more restrictive ESRB rating in North America which then might have prevented a broad release of the game," he said.
The more restrictive rating Erik refers to is "AO," short for "adults only." It's the most severe rating handed out by the ESRB, and one that is a non-starter among most developers since it effectively limits sales potential, particularly on consoles.
It's the same reason you don't see a whole lot of NC-17-rated movies in theaters; the U.S. audience has a real hunger for blood and violence, but sex and nudity are a tougher sell. This so-called "golden age of TV" we're currently living in has helped a lot on that count (see also: Game of Thrones), but Conan Exiles is apparently a peen too far.
Topics Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
