Symbolic changes at the USK…German games censor will no longer ban those Nazi images that are excluded from a wider German law for historical or artistic reasons

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Thanks to Daniel See  article from slate.com

The next Wolfenstein game might not even need to remove Adolf Hitler’s moustache. Germany’s Entertainment Software Self-Regulation Body (or USK), an independent, industry-funded board that oversees age and content ratings for videos games available in the country, announced on Thursday that it will now permit the sale of games featuring Nazi imagery within the country, something that had previously been banned. The USK’s decision reportedly came after a heated debate involving the Nazi-killing Wolfenstein series , particularly a pair of anti–Third Reich games in 2014 and 2017 that were visibly, and somewhat humorously , self-censored in Germany in order to avoid violating a provision of the country’s constitution.Previously, video games with Nazi symbolism were heavily censored or outright banned based on the German criminal code’s Section 86a , which forbids the use of symbols, flags, insignia, uniforms, slogans, propaganda, and greetings relating to unconstitutional organizations in German products. Section 86a violations could be met with up to three years of imprisonment or a hefty fine. USK will now assess games on a case-by-case basis to determine if they meet a reinterpreted standard of the country’s social adequacy clause that allows for Nazi imagery if it serves one of the following purposes: artistic, scientific, or if it depicts current or historical events. This metric is currently used for films screened in Germany because they are considered works of art.