Malaysia Temporarily Blocks Steam Over Controversial Game ‘Fight of The Gods’

A new fighting game called “Fight of The Gods” caused such controversy in Malaysia that it got Valve’s content provider Steam temporarily banned in the country for violating its religious-and-racial-unity laws.

The early-access game, featuring Jesus, Buddha and other religious figures as playable characters, was developed by Taiwan-based Digital Crafter.

According to Malay Mail Online , Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission have called for a ban on the game called Fight of Gods on Thursday, with the agency calling upon the digital distribution platform to have the game to be disabled within 24 hours.

“Fight of Gods is a video game that takes a humorous approach to religion in the same way that other entertainment formats have – across television, film, books, and theatre,” PQube, publisher of Fight of The Gods, said in a statement. “The game is not promoting any religious agenda and is not designed to offend. The description of the game on the digital platforms through which it is distributed provides clear guidance on the nature of the game and its content so that people can freely choose whether or not to play it. We fully respect the choice of those who would not wish to play it.”

Steam’s failure to immediately comply with the Malaysian government agency’s 24-hour ultimatum resulted into being blocked from the country the following day. When Malaysian gamers failed to access their games, they took to social media to express their frustration, reports Free Malaysia Today.

The ban, however, was lifted three hours later after Steam agreed to remove the game in Malaysia, according to the Straits Times.

In a Twitter post, Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak announced the reversal of the order:

“Steam has disabled the download of the game in Malaysia in accordance with our warning & request last night. Will uplift the blocking today.”

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) also confirmed the news on its Facebook page, posting: “The operators of the platform has complied with our request to block the video game ‘Fight of Gods’ from being downloaded by Malaysian users. Therefore, the blocked access on the site steampowered.com will now be lifted.”

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