Independent developer Illfonic, best known for its asymmetric multiplayer games based on iconic horror franchises, has revealed its upcoming Halloween: The Game has been refused classification in Australia. As a result, Halloween: The Game won’t be able to be sold via Australian storefronts. However, Illfonic also announced that the Australian rating means it won’t be selling the game in New Zealand either, despite the fact that New Zealand is objectively not a part of Australia and is, in fact, a separate sovereign country with its own government, currency, anthem, sports teams, and – yes – classification system.
While no classification decision has actually been published by the Australian Classification Board at this stage, IGN understands the determination involves incentivised illicit drug use, which is an idiosyncratic caveat that has caused hurdles for several games in Australia over the last few decades.
“Despite every effort on our part, the Australian Classifications [sic] Board has denied ‘Halloween: The Game’ a rating,” Illfonic has explained via social media. “The denial was not based on the presence of the iconic slasher, Michael Myers, or the outstanding kills that can be performed in the game, but rather the presence of a controlled substance. Unfortunately, to our disappointment (and certainly yours) this means that we cannot sell the physical or digital product in both Australia and New Zealand.”
Contrary to Illfonic’s statement, however, “the presence of a controlled substance” is not against Australia’s classification guidelines, so attributing Halloween: The Game’s effective “ban” in Australia to the mere presence of drugs in the game is either a misunderstanding of the situation, or an oversimplification. For instance, strong impact drug use is permitted in Australia’s MA15+ classification, and high impact drug use is permitted under the R18+ classification. However, what the guidelines do specifically prohibit is tying the use of illicit drugs in relation to incentives or rewards. It’s reported that Halloween: The Game includes the ability for players to smoke marijuana in-game as a mechanic that will reward them with pings showing villain Michael Myers’ location on the map. For context, the marijuana use featured in games like Grand Theft Auto V and Far Cry 3 is not associated with incentives, and both those games were rated in Australia without issue.
IGN sought clarification from the Australian Classification Board on a variety of questions about Halloween: The Game and Illfonic’s process for securing a rating for it.
“The Classification Board has not yet published a decision in relation to Halloween: The Game,” stated a Classification Board spokesperson.
“Games containing illicit drug use related to incentives or rewards cannot be accommodated within the R18+ classification category and must be Refused Classification under the Guidelines.”
Back in July, Illfonic successfully secured an R18+ rating in Australia for Halloween: The Game’s pre-order content, which was applied using the automated, free-to-use online rating tool maintained by the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC). In Australia’s case, the IARC tool sends its decision to be published automatically on Australia’s National Classification Database. However, in Australia, the IARC tool can only be used to classify games that are exclusively digitally distributed. If Halloween: The Game was going to be released on physical formats in Australia, it would have needed to have been submitted to the Classification Board for human rating, and not achieved via the IARC tool. The Australian Classification Board did not respond to IGN’s question whether Illfonic (or a local distributor acting on its behalf) did this.
Refused classification decisions from the Australian Classification Board can also be appealed to the Classification Review Board, which is a separate panel. IGN sought clarification whether Illfonic had pursued this but received no response.
As for “every effort” on Illfonic’s part, that’s a claim that may not quite pass the sniff test considering how successfully other developers and publishers have skirted Australia’s guidelines with small, semantic tweaks. For instance, 2013’s State of Decay was initially refused classification in Australia for tying real-world proscribed substances to health boosts and other buffs, but a revised version that called the drugs ‘vitamins’ instead was rated without further issue. In 2008, Bethesda opted to give its morphine a brand name (‘Med-X’) to dodge the rule for Fallout 3. So, principles aside, it’s not entirely clear why Illfonic couldn’t just call it a regular cigarette in Australia and sidestep the whole debacle.
For what it’s worth, Halloween: The Game’s refused classification determination is unlikely to have much meaningful impact on the ability for gamers in Australia and NZ to get the game, considering how straightforward it is to purchase games from international storefronts in 2026.
Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.
