Australia banned a new videogame based on the “Halloween” series of slasher movies not because of the brutal murders and teen sex –- but because of “incentivized” pot smoking.
The Australian Classification Board, which is responsible for rating media in the country, hit “Halloween: The Game” with an outright ban over a feature that allowed gamers — many of them playing as teenage characters — to gain special abilities from getting high or drunk.
“Halloween: The Game contains illicit drug use that is linked to an incentive or reward, in that use of the drug provides a gameplay advantage to the player,” the board wrote in a statement published last week.
Recreational marijuana is illegal in Australia.
Smoking pot in the game restores a player’s health while allowing the tokers to see killer Michael Myers’ location on the map. Gamers playing as Myers go door to door slaughtering innocents.
The maniac kills his prey in elaborate horror movie style, including by pinning people to the wall with a kitchen knife and stomping heads through a toilet.
The game also recently came under fire and removed a sex minigame after players were using an adult character, Dr. Loomis, to have sex with teens.
Australia’s decision has local videogame fans fuming mad.
The country’s Classification Board received more than 500 complaints about its banning of “Halloween: The Game,” according to The Guardian.
“Sure, we can have gambling ads every three minutes on television, that’s totally fine, but ONE scene of someone smoking something for a positive net gain in a video game, and that’s where we draw the line?!” wrote one angry Aussie on Reddit.
“The really dumb part is that medical cannabis is legal in Australia. They already agree cannabis has benefits in real life,” wrote another.
The board’s own former director, Margaret Anderson, also blasted the decision to ban the game — which is intended for adults.
“Can we stop pretending that the way we classify games in this country, in 2026, is appropriate for adults? Because it’s not,” said Anderson, according to the Guardian.
Representatives for IllFonic, the game’s developers, did not respond to a request for comment.
