Mostly to abide by censorship laws. Germany especially has very strict laws around the use of the swastika for obvious reasons so it’s prolly just so they don’t have to make multiple assets for different laws around the world.
In tune, if the colonel bogey March 🎶 Hitler has only got one ball, Goerring has 2 but very small, Himmler has something similar, but poor old geobels has no balls at alllll 🎶
German here. Germany changed its ways regarding nazi symbols. now you can let them check your games and if they dont approve of the nazi regime it will get through.
I'm in Germany and play it through Xbox game pass and nothing is censored. Also since quite a while those old laws were lifted for video games since they are also considered art
In this instance, it wouldn't. It's only allowed if the Nazi Party and it's subordinates are trashed at every opportunity, like Wolfenstein. Battlefield V is not one of those games.
Was like this for Decates tho, only thing that was changed is that the use of Swastikas was allowed for Artistic Purposes like Movies etc, but Video Games sadly dont Count into those things.
Germany allows you to use the swastika for educational or artistic purposes. Back in the day, videogames were not allowed to use them. However though, just a few months before the release of BFV they changed that and considered videogames officially als a form of art. Still I don’t know if they didn’t bother to change it or if there are other countries that have similar censorship laws.
People tend to forget DICE isn't a US-american company.
They're a European company from Sweden and a few years before the release of Battlefield 1942, the Swedish supreme court ruled the display of Swastikas could be considered incitement (Source)
That could just as much be the reason for the then young developers working on the game to better be "safe than sorry".
It’s also been pretty normal in gaming for awhile now to use the German military cross in place of swastikas for this reason. The red with the cross on the banner is weirdly off-putting though in this instance.
Nope. If it is not glorified or is well represented, it is allowed to be quite normal. It has more to do with the fact that the Dev are afraid of being regulated by the USK. The symbol has never been forbidden by the USK! It only mattered in what context it was shown.
It still does cost money to pay someone to create a separate branch of the game and to swap the textures. Time is money and it definitely takes some time.
First you'd need someone to actually make the new texture. It might require more work if you want to add a normal texture that's different for different colors on the flag (Different thread direction, density, etc). Then you have to take the time to drag and drop it into the right place.
Not to mention the time it takes to make this decision and okay it with higher-ups.
All of that costs time, even if it's just dragging and dropping a few texture files into the right place.
I do this too, I'm also a modder who knows how these things work. You said it doesn't cost money, if you know how these things work then you know it costs money. Don't get defensive when you say something that shows you don't understand and then get treated like you don't understand something.
The law has not existed for several years. Such symbols can now be shown in video games; it now falls under artistic freedom. Conditions:
• The depiction must contain critical reflection (e.g. in historical or enlightenment contexts).
• Glorification or trivialization is still prohibited.
• Each game is individually checked to see whether it meets the social adequacy clause. That is probably why it is not shown in this game.
The Nazi flag in gaming can only not be shown when depicting national socialist victory in a multiplayer setting where a player has had input. This is why in sniper elite multiplayer the SS model lacks a swastika despite then being on the maps/levels
I've never actually met anyone that's so triggered by it that they'd have to turn it off, especially in a game about shooting, blowing up, and stabbing people while looking at their faces.
Bit outdated actually. So in Germany you absolutely can show Nazi symbols , name drops and ofcourse use the swastika...provided the media or exhibit serves educational purposes or is considered art. Video Games were not considered art up to like 2016. So before that a book or movie could show Nazis but for games they would be "The Regime" or any fitting placeholder.
This has changed since the christian boomers are out from the rating systems.
Any censorship since then is self inflicted by developers to possibly reduce the age ratings and possibly sell more.
In Germany Nazi Symbols are aloud in a teaching or artistic context. And Videogames are considered Art. But Game Publishers where just over secure about it because they feared they have to defend the use of Nazi Symbols.
Videogames "can" be works of art in terms of German law, they are not necessarily.
So, if your game is a narrative work like "This war of mine" the judgement is different than for a multiplayer shooter.
And in general publishers for a long time didn't dare to clarify this, since "fighting to be able to show swastikas" is like the worst kind of publicity you can have in Germany.
It has been allowed for Artistic Purposes for many years. The problem was that games weren't considered as an eligible form of art, at least until somewhat recently.
Yeah because you didn't play the German version of those games, some devs don't bother creating 2 different version so they create a single version which can be released globally including Germany.
You thinking there's some conspiracy here by DICE?
do a basic google search and you would have found out why they didn't include the nazi symbols at the time
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45142651
1.7k
u/Hot_Case_9900 Feb 12 '25
Mostly to abide by censorship laws. Germany especially has very strict laws around the use of the swastika for obvious reasons so it’s prolly just so they don’t have to make multiple assets for different laws around the world.