Wal-Mart Covering Up “M” Rated Games
By Jonathan on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 4:28 PM PST In Gamer Life, Games Industry
It seems the retail giant known as “Wal-Mart” will soon be making another step in it’s ongoing endeavors to censor its own stock. Stores will soon begin displaying “M” rated games in a black sleeve that obscures 3/4 of the game’s cover, much like adult magazines in many news shops.
“It is the responsibility of Wal-Mart to protect our children from potentially damaging content, such as the covers of some video games,” said a company spokesperson.
Oddly I’m not too surprised to hear that Wal-Mart’s doing this, given that they already only carry censored versions of music. It’s still pretty ridiculous though, especially since I can’t think of a single “M” rated title that has anything too offensive on its cover. Not to mention the fact that the games are encased in glass, so children can’t even inspect the back. And if they’re so concerned about the games’ content, then why are they stocking them at all? I’m so confused.
Via Scrape TV
UPDATE: We’ve just been informed by Scrape TV that this story was actually a work of satire; an excellent one at that considering a number of other sites believed it as well. In other words, it’s fake. Wal-Mart nor any other retailer is actually covering up the front of game boxes (though I’m going to add a big, fat “yet” to the end of that).
This is completely retarded. Just when I thought the whole “M” rated fear mongering couldn’t get any crazier, this happens …
O.o
i cant even reply to such stupidity
Are they going to do this with movies too?
~Death Dream~
As Jonathan said, there’s nothing in the M rated box art that contains anything a minor shouldn’t see. If there were, then I could see why this new tactic would be necessary.
Doing this will only make me feel weird when I am purchasing an M rated game at Walmart. I’m starting to run out of places to buy my games from.
That’s it! I’m boycotting Wal-Mart!
this is the fn stupidest thing ever im not going there my favorite games are rated M like halo and crackdown and im only 13
Wow. Just wow.
this is…. strange… as has been said, there is (usually) nothing inappropriate about game covers, the worst is maybe the playboy bunny….. war games, well, the kids usually play Grand theft Auto, so….. not like anything new there..
O…..k Is Wal-mart THAT F*@Ked up? Like CGB said there IS NOTHING INAPPROPRAITE about them….
Also, Like society doesn’t damage kids enough, whats a video game cover going to do?
“And if they’re so concerned about the games’ content, then why are they stocking them at all? I’m so confused.”
Good lord, don’t give them any ideas!
Does anyone pay attention to what Wal-Mart has done in the past? Underselling costumers while loosing money to shut out the competition and then come back to sell their products for more, overseas manufacturing auctions that hurts more third-world citizens more than any other outsourcing organization, they mistreat employees, and create lineups that misguides customers so that they are lured in by cheap sales that hide hideous truths about the prices of other products they sell. I don’t know why anyone would want to shop there in the first place, I burn the little money I have on products from companies I can respect.
Honestly.. this is the final straw for me and Wal Mart. The more I think about it, the more Wal Mart finds new ways to piss me off. First they sell crappy edited CDs.. then they once they black balled all the distribution companies and got their monopoly in place, they jacked up all their prices.
I have to agree with South Park that there is certainly some kind of demonic or evil force in Wal Mart stores.
Bull: you are right. I certainly think people shouldn’t shop there anymore. If they think M rated games and music with explicit lyrics are bad, they should really look at what they are doing to society.
“Not to mention the fact that the games are encased in glass, so children can’t even inspect the back.”
That is a recent trend of Wal-Mart with regards to PC games, and I think it will really hinder sales of all but the most popular titles because it prevent casual browsing (or at least makes it very inconvenient) since who is going to call for the clerk with the key just to checkout a game’s box.
Although it was mentioned above, it bears repeating. Is Wal-Mart going to start covering up all R-rated movie boxes too as those are also rated for 17 years and older like M-rated games? And what about “unrated” cuts of movies? Are unrated movies are allowed and unrated video games not?
I think the video game industry screwed itself by not adopting the identical labels as those for movies because it makes it easy for retailers to treat games more harshly for similarly rated content.
“they black balled all the distribution companies and got their monopoly in place, they jacked up all their prices.”
I don’t dispute this, but what are some examples of products that Wal-Mart has a monopoly on and thus is overcharging for? I’m no fan of walmart, but when I do shop there, everything seems pretty damn cheap to me.
“It is the responsibility of Wal-Mart to protect our children from potentially damaging content, such as the covers of some video games,”
BULLSHIT!
Its the parents responsibility!
of course leave it to america to be so damaged as to not know that its obviously the parents decision as to whether or not their children should even be roaming the aisles of walmart by-themselves. i would hold onto my kid…
The company does this for research perposes. If the sale dip enough they may not do it if it impacts sales positivly then theyve accomplished thier marketing protitution of “contraversy”.
used_c: Wal Mart has a monopoly when it comes to purchasing…not specific products exactly.
Iku: I agree.. we live in a “democratic” society and support capitalism. It is not the responsibility of retail outlets to censor products. The only thing they should be concerned about is not selling the games to kids. They don’t need to take actions like this. The funny thing is that adults are the ones buying the games anyway. This whole “protect the children” thing is simply a ruse.
@william,
So, what is jacked up about the prices. The main complaint I hear about walmart is that they force their own prices down, but to my knowledge that savings is usually passed on to the consumer in the form of lower prices at retail. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“It is not the responsibility of retail outlets to censor products.”
I agree, it’s not their responsibility, but it IS their right. I can’t imagine they would do this for any other reason than PERCEIVED customer satisfaction and thus an increase in customer patronage. What other purpose could it serve? If it backfires, I think they would revisit the issue. As one poster said, this is evidence that the games industry screwed up by not using the same ratings as the movie industry. Lets see them try to put a black sleeve on every R rated movie. Their displays would be rendered meaningless.
Alright, funny note on this. I work at a Wal Mart, in electronics. Currently, we have a Turok Animated Series dvd displayed in our children’s movie section. On the front cover of the DVD, it displays “contains adult material”, but it’s sitting right in the children’s dvd section, easily assessable to any young child who wants to see this.
However, I honestly call this bullshit. I don’t see this happening.
Hypocrites. “WE”LL SELL SMUT BUT WE MOAR CONSHUS BOUT IT K WE IS RESPONSIBULL”
I lol’d at Berkut’s post
The only way this shit will end is if a prominent game developer such as EA steps up and sues Wal-Mart.
Boycott Wal-Mart.
When one company gains such control over other companies, simply due to size and overwhelming market share, wasn’t it once considered an anti-trust issue? Perhaps EA, and any other suppliers forced overseas to meet WalMart’s demands should consider dusting off this monopoly argument.
This is the greatest idea ever!
“Hide” something with a ‘taboo’ black cover and you can be sure that it will sell like hot cakes! I wanna go to Walmart and buy it already! I don’t even know what the game is but if it has a black cover..you know it’s gonna be sweet.
Well played Walmart, another marketing miracle that will make you richer. Man I wish I was this clever…
Whoa! Folks! Let’s back up a bit!
ScrapeTV is a satire site. (Or, at least, it tries to be.)
C’mon, check your sources before you repost crap like this!
As Megaton said…fake news from a fake news site. Hilarious.
This is fake people, Scrape tv is a parody site, this isnt real.
we’re coming for you next wal-mart.
Wal-Mart sucks my ass………
it was only a matter of time, I guesss… So now the design challenge is to sneak it in there without anyone noticing… like the hidden elements in Disney movies! Who’s in?
- Alphy
I really have no problem with this, when I go to buy a game I know what I want to get. What I find odd though is that in nearly all Wal-marts I’ve been to they have the lingerie right across the aisle. With of course the banners hanging from the ceiling of models showing off said lingerie with no black sleeves in sight.
WooHoo!! now nobody will go on a killing spree in Wal-Mart because they looked at a M-rated game cover!!
DON’T BUY GAMES AT WALMART. We’ve known for years they’re a rotten company that helps expand corporate abuse, union busting, and general repression of progress. Why stop there when you can push your psychotic social agendas too?
GIVE ME A BREAK!
Please tell me this was posted by an intern. This originated at a really lame satire site. Imagine if The Onion had a retarded younger brother… Anyway, it fooled a lot of people, even the folks here at FileFront and NeoGAF (lol). Please take down this story and stop confusing people. Thanks.
Ok, guys, get real. Look at the originating site for this ’story.’
No other news outlet is reporting this. This is a satire site.
Other headlines from the site include
IS BUSH STUPID OR JUST DUMB?
CONDOM MACHINES DO NOT CAUSE TEENS TO HAVE MORE SEX, LOSER DECRIES
GLOBAL WARMING WILL NOT BRING THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE
IQ TESTS SEEN AS PREJUDICIAL TO STUPID PEOPLE
Has to be the dumbest thing I have heard in awhile.
And just like when I was a child, my curiosity as to “what’s behind the black sleeve” will pique my interest.
Censorship of this kind has the opposite effect. Where a 6-year-old child would normally stroll past the videogame isle, now he is going to stop and focus on the black cover and wonder what is behind it.
Stopped shopping a while back there.. and just makes me not want to go more. I dont buy many counsel games.. but TV, Magazines, and DVD covers are worse. Cant flip through a 17 mag without some half naked chick selling smell good stuff..i dont mind, but come on. Walmart sucks in the poor and it will always be that way. You work there, you buy there. It will always be. Watch “The high cost of low prices” about walmart and you will not shop there again. The kids that do go there are trailer trash and probably have seen their parents doing it in the trailer or bill with a shotgun pointed at earl. Real life messes up kids, not some cover.. I live in America.. but damn .. come on people…
Walmart has the worst policies ever.
Albeit they have good prices, how they treat their labor makes me cringe. This is just another move which will make Sam Waldon turn over in his grave. Walmart markets its stores as customer friendly, but is it really?
Your american fake moralism it’s really boring
it’s real makes me sick….fuck you!
@Alex,
What are you even talking about. Make some sense brotha!
Settle down, Beavis*. It’s satire–and evidently, pretty good satire.
*”Beavis” refers to all who haven’t figured this out yet.
You idiots. It’s from a joke site. This is all fake.
this is by far the stupidest thing ive ever heard i think the ratings people and moms that actually think this is right need to get over it!!!!!!!!!!! your kids are going to see this kind of stuff anyway so just let them its not like theres porn on the front of it!!!!
You know…I’m doing a 20 page essay for college atm where I am talking about things such as this, and this is just another source for me to use in proving how stupid America is with all this censorship bullshit they pull on children. I’m not dissing America in general, but I must say that some of the ethics and priorities here are ASS FUCKING BACKWARDS.
Anyways….
Stupidity at it’s best.