47 Games Banned in Saudi Arabia Following Child Deaths [UPDATE]

Game Rant

By Joshua Duckworth

Published Jul 16, 2018

Saudia Arabia bans 47 video games following the suicides of a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy who each seemingly participated in the Blue Whale Challenge.

[UPDATE: It has come to our attention that this news story contains inaccuracies, as multiple people working in the Saudi Arabian region's games industry and with the Saudi General Commission for Audio-Visual Media (GCAM) have now stated that no such action in regards to the game bans have been taken. The original story continues below.]

While it is not too prominent in the United States, there is a circulating social media challenge otherwise known as the "Blue Whale Challenge." Essentially, those who take the challenge are pressured into various tasks that end with those participants taking their own life. In connection with this challenge, Saudi Arabia has banned 47 games following the death of two children, a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy.

The Witcher 3, Assassin's Creed 2, and the most lucrative game of 2017, Grand Theft Auto 5, are a few of the games on the extensive list banned by the Saudi General Commission for Audio-Visual Media, with the commission citing "unspecified violations of rules and regulations." It appears these two children killed themselves after participating in the challenge via an online game, but the agency did not specify the connection between the social media challenge, these video games, and the sad suicides of these children.

Although the agency did not address the social media challenge in the issuance of its ban, allegations online of the two children participating in the challenge appear to be the connection. However, glimpsing at the list of games now banned, it's hard to identify any pattern, as the first three God of War games are now banned but not the latest release and Dragon Age Inquisition is the only entry of that growing franchise on the list.

Although many people are likely to be divided over video games being banned as a way to cull violence, many will also agree that this social media challenge is not okay. Please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline if you are asked to participate in the Blue Whale challenge or are having suicidal thoughts.

Below is a full list of games banned by the Saudi General Commission for Audio-Visual Media:

Agents of Mayhem

Assassins Creed 2

Attack on Titan 2

Bayonetta 2

Clash of the Titans

Dante's Inferno

Dead Rising 3 Apocalypse Edition

Deadpool

Deception IV: The Nightmare Process

Deus Ex Mankind Divided

Devils Third