Hats off to Square Enix for not changing up its Final Fantasy game for one country that doesn’t share its ideals.

The upcoming Final Fantasy 16 for PlayStation 5 will be coming out for all countries save for one: Saudi Arabia. This is according to an official ratings board update by the country’s General Commission for Audiovisual Media (via Video Game Chronicle). The game has been banned due to containing unacceptable content that Square Enix refuses to change.

“For fans of Final Fantasy 16, we would like to clarify that it has not been released in the Kingdom, due to the publisher’s unwillingness to make the necessary modifications.”

A twitter post from the board’s general supervisor for video games Hattan Tawili mentioned the situation without saying the game’s name earlier this week:

“Unfortunately, after all our attempts over the past eight months without any success, one of the most important and biggest games of the year is on its way to being banned due to the company’s complete refusal to modify the content to suit the region.

Of course, it is clear to the company what happened, but they put it in abundance without reason and refuse to modify it.”

????? ??? ??? ????? ????? ????? ????? ??? ?? ????????? ???? ???????? ???? ??????? ??? ?? ???? ?????? ?? ?????? ????? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ?? ??????? (???? ???? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ??????? ?? ?????? ????? ???? ????? ??? ??????? ???????)

— Hattan Tawili ™ (@HattanTawili) May 2, 2023

What Is This Banned Content In Final Fantasy 16?

It turns out that the content that was banned in Saudi Arabia was LGBTQ+ related. Three writers from Saudi Arabia who covered the game during the February preview session for Final Fantasy 16 posted vague tweets implying the game’s LGBTQ+ content that could cause it to be banned in Saudi Arabia.

????? ???? #FinalFantasyXIV? ??? ??????? ????? ?? ???? ????????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ?????? ?????? ????????? ???????.

?????? ?????? ??????? #??????_???????? #?????_??????? pic.twitter.com/5OuWZJGEvX

— ??????? ?????? ??????? ??????????? (@VGAR_SA) May 3, 2023

There are a number of films that were banned in Saudi Arabia due to LGBTQ+ like Lightyear, Strange World, and Dr Strange & The Multiverse of Madness, with its parent company Disney refusing to make changes to appease the country’s censorship board. This situation seems similar, and does beg the question if other countries that aren’t so hot with LGBTQ+ might ban the upcoming Final Fantasy game for the same reasons.

Final Fantasy 16 will be out on 22nd June exclusively for PlayStation 5.