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Target Australia's war on mature gaming continues

SparkTR

Member
I remember hearing it years ago.
http://*****.com/article/5816/Australian-MP-Claims-Project-Gotham-Should-be-Banned

Guess it wasnt actually banned but the PM wanted pgr2 banned. Which still sounds assured to me.

That guy was pretty much Australia's equivalent of Jack Thompson if that's the person I'm thinking of. We don't see him anymore and I believe he's retired. Also it was an MP not the PM.

Games don't get banned in Aus anymore unless they glamorize drug use or feature sexual violence these days. Mobile games are a seperate thing though since there are so many of them.
 

Go319

Member
So I had a quick search here and on kotaku aus, and so such news.
Target have now made 18+ rated games plain packaging, the same thing the Australian Government made Cigarette companies do a few years ago.

Target Australia was in the news a 2 years ago for pulling GTAV from the stores after a social media campaign
http://www.target.com.au/medias/marketing/corporate/PDF/media-release/GTA-Media-Release-v2.pdf

0kQ4VKo.jpg


What store/location was this??
 

grimmiq

Member
The case you get at the counter is still the real one though, right?

I really don't see a point in this, if you don't want to advertise the product at all, why even stock it?
 
I see no issue with this, seems like a good idea to be honest. Allows them to still offer it for sale but makes the rating stand out more to any parents buying a game for their kid.

Is that just in QLD?
 

sjt333

Member
I'd say this is to stop their staff selling R18 games to kids and to stop them copping a massive fine for doing so
 
What's with everyone saying noone buys games from Target? You guys are missing out.

Picked up Dark Souls 2 PS4 for $29 around Christmas.
 

SparkTR

Member
What's with everyone saying noone buys games from Target? You guys are missing out.

Picked up Dark Souls 2 PS4 for $29 around Christmas.

Big W is often as cheap or cheaper and price match (EB Games do anyway). Digital games are also insanely cheaper than retail in Aus for PC at least, to the point where I haven't bought physical for like nine months now.
 

Hypron

Member
One of NZ's largest retailers pulled all 18+ movies and games from shelves to make themselves more family "friendly".

Whatever, I buy everything digital now.

Which retailer is that? I haven't bought any game from a store in a long, long time.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
What's with everyone saying noone buys games from Target? You guys are missing out.

Picked up Dark Souls 2 PS4 for $29 around Christmas.

Like if I go to Target for cheap as shit clothes and happen to see a deal on games I might get it, but to shop there specifically for games?

Eh.
 

Skux

Member
Meanwhile, we in New Zealand often get shafted with the censored Australian version of a game (GTAIV did this) because of shipping logistics, despite having our own fully functioning R18 rating.
 
Meanwhile, we in New Zealand often get shafted with the censored Australian version of a game (GTAIV did this) because of shipping logistics, despite having our own fully functioning R18 rating.

Australia didnt have an R rating until 2013.
 

Machina

Banned
So I had a quick search here and on kotaku aus, and so such news.
Target have now made 18+ rated games plain packaging, the same thing the Australian Government made Cigarette companies do a few years ago.

Target Australia was in the news a 2 years ago for pulling GTAV from the stores after a social media campaign
http://www.target.com.au/medias/marketing/corporate/PDF/media-release/GTA-Media-Release-v2.pdf

0kQ4VKo.jpg

Everything about this photo is just remarkably cowardly.
 

barit

Member
And people say that Germany fucked up with the big USK logos on the cover.

Australia once again outdid Germany. Thanks Australia.

Pretty much this. And Germany became more moderate with censoring and banning games lately. Heck you can even buy now Mortal Kombat X uncut at retails. Something that was absolutely out of range just a few years ago. (MK9 is still banned)

Stay strong my Australian followers. Maybe your goverment will see someday how dumb this all is.
 

Alienfan

Member
The Warehouse in New Zealand actually stopped selling all R18 movies and games due to public outrage. Funny thing is they still sell fireworks...
 
Hey, if it stops ignorant parents buying GTAV and Call of Duty for their 8 year old, more power to Target.

And now the question we all wonder, will any of them read the packaging.

While I agree, the root of the problem is in educating parents so they know what kind of content they're proving to their kids.

I know a couple who are really nice, church-going, very family-orientated, the dad's a solicitor and the mum's a part-time teacher, and I was shocked to learn a couple of years ago that they have Call of Duty and GTA for their boys who are 12, 10 and 8. When I told them the sort of things in those games, they just brushed it off as a "they've seen worse" kind of attitude.
 

Evilisk

Member
Eh they can do what they like

What's with everyone saying noone buys games from Target? You guys are missing out.

Picked up Dark Souls 2 PS4 for $29 around Christmas.

I hit up Target everytime I got my local mall to buy games and everything, everything is always more expensive there. Even the shovelware is more expensive than if I bought it at EB Games.
 

SparkTR

Member
One large retail chain which has over almost 200 stores.

Kmart (similar to Walmart) also stopped selling GTA V and that has over 200 stores.

No, I'm very sure Target doesn't do this in Melbourne or Sydney. It looks like a regional thing or an uptight store manager. Kmart also has nowhere near the reach or importance of Walmart, gaming is not something important to their bottom line.
 

MarionCB

Member
The only reason to buy games at Target here is if they're at clearance prices anyway. This doesn't bother me because honestly mature game players are not Target's target market; the target market for Target is people who don't know better or grandparents who are buying presents for kids. They should cater to their market.
 

Alienfan

Member
That one. Although I can't remember much of an outrage. Was it really due to public pressure? Why don't other shops follow?

Actually you're right, it wasn't an outrage but was supposedly because R18 products didn't "fit" their brand... which is funny,again, considering they sell fire works each year.
 

Other

Member
No, I'm very sure Target doesn't do this in Melbourne or Sydney. It looks like a regional thing or an uptight store manager. Kmart also has nowhere near the reach or importance of Walmart, gaming is not something important to their bottom line.

Yeah I was in Target on Saturday and this wasn't a thing then. It's either super recent(implemented as of the last day or so) or super localized to one store. Someone should go ask Target what's up with this on one of their social media places and until there's an answer we just spend the time flipping off the dumbshit jingonistic 'shitpost and run' Yanks crawling out of the woodwork.
 
One large retail chain which has over almost 200 stores.

Kmart (similar to Walmart) also stopped selling GTA V and that has over 200 stores.

Whoops, misunderstanding. I forgot the topic is about the plain packaging for the game covers.

Oh no.

A store doesn't want to sell something.

It's a war on gaming.
 
lol fat chance. Too busy trying to defund anti-bullying campaigns because tolerence is social engineering.

the hell? seems like they'd be doing the opposite when you look at what they're doing with video games. are australians just trolling each other over there?
 

Luigiv

Member
Ok. Does anyone over the age of 18 even buy games from Target anyway? I thought their audience was exclusively kids who got dragged in by their parents.
 

dity

Member
Pretty much this. And Germany became more moderate with censoring and banning games lately. Heck you can even buy now Mortal Kombat X uncut at retails. Something that was absolutely out of range just a few years ago. (MK9 is still banned)

Stay strong my Australian followers. Maybe your goverment will see someday how dumb this all is.
This has nothing to do with our cruddy government though.
 
Well, they do what they want with their store. Enforcing age ratings is fair enough. Just seems a bit exaggerated to be this aggressive about it.
 
So I checked Marion and West lakes Target, both didn't have this. So it must be exclusive to Castle Plaza Target. Most likely due to a Manager taking extra steps or some type of trial?

Kinda regret posting until I checked other stores, since this is now on reddit and most likely other places.
 

Symtendo

Member
So I checked Marion and West lakes Target, both didn't have this. So it must be exclusive to Castle Plaza Target. Most likely due to a Manager taking extra steps or some type of trial?

Kinda regret posting until I checked other stores, since this is now on reddit and most likely other places.


Just came to post that I didnt see this in Marion yesterday...
 

TwoDurans

"Never said I wasn't a hypocrite."
I know we're supposed to be outraged over this, but I'm actually impressed people can buy 18+ games at retail in Australia. I can't think of a single retailer in North America that would sell an AO game off the shelves.
 

Trojan

Member
Not sure if people are aware, but "Target" in Australia has nothing to do with the US version of Target. They're completely separate companies. The Australian company completely copied the aesthetic of the US Target, but they can't be taken to court reliably under Australian law, so the US Target just leaves them alone.
 

Kyou

Member
looks like they're just taped on or something? You can see some with the white piece peeling off with the cover behind it. Doesn't seem like a big deal
 
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