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Ubisoft was forced to recall Collector's Edition copies of recently released PC game Silent Hunter 5 in Germany due to "World War II symbols" that were not edited out in accordance with German law, according to media reports.

Eric Caoili, Blogger

March 12, 2010

1 Min Read

Ubisoft was forced to recall Collector's Edition copies of PC game Silent Hunter 5: Battle Of The Atlantic in Germany due to "World War II symbols" that were not edited out in accordance with German law. The publisher failed to properly remove a portion of Silent Hunter 5's World War II symbols, presumably Nazi symbols such as swastika flags, in the game's Collector's Edition, according to a report from German website ComputerBase translated by Blues News. Both the standard release and Collector's Edition (which includes special packaging, an official guide, a physical map of the Battle of the Atlantic, the game's soundtrack, and unique submarines/enemy skins) shipped in Europe and North America last week. Ubisoft did not recall Silent Hunter 5's standard edition, indicating that release didn't suffer the same issue. German criminal law prohibits the distribution of video games with Nazi references such as flags, uniforms, insignia, and even forms of greeting used outside of a genuine historical context. Germany banned the sale of id Software's Wolfenstein 3D for this reason in 1994, confiscating copies of the PC and Atari Jaguar editions. Activision Blizzard, which published a follow-up to Wolfenstein 3D, also recalled its game in Germany last September after discovering Nazi symbols that were not removed from the game during its localization process despite specific efforts to identify and replace the icons.

About the Author(s)

Eric Caoili

Blogger

Eric Caoili currently serves as a news editor for Gamasutra, and has helmed numerous other UBM Techweb Game Network sites all now long-dead, including GameSetWatch. He is also co-editor for beloved handheld gaming blog Tiny Cartridge, and has contributed to Joystiq, Winamp, GamePro, and 4 Color Rebellion.

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