Germany relaxes ban on Nazi symbols in video games

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After decades of banning swastikas and such symbols of Nazis and other “unconstitutional organisations” from games, German authorities will now potentially allow them – if they serve an artistic or educational purpose. This “social adequacy” clause has allowed these symbols to be used in other artistic mediums but wasn’t previously applied to video games (which only became art, as we all know, through BioShock Infinite in 2013), requiring developers to replace or otherwise remove the iconography to get a German release. This change isn’t a green light for swastikas galore, as laws controlling the symbols still apply, but the German ratings board are now willing to consider their artistic merit in games.

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