EA is already dealing with an investor lawsuit which claims that the game publisher made misleading statements about the development of "Battlefield 4," and now the company has been informed that the modern military first-person shooter has been banned for sale in China for charges that it"s a "cultural invasion" against the country.
According to the Chinese language site PCgames.com.cn, not only is "Battlefield 4" banned from sale, but the government"s Ministry of Culture has shut down downloads of the game, either in full or demo form. Even news reports about "Battlefield 4" have been officially silenced.
The single player campaign of the game is set in the year 2020 and involves a fictional Chinese general staging a military coup d"état against his country"s government with support from Russia. In its statement today, the Ministry of Culture slammed the game"s story, claiming that it "smears China"s image." It added that the game contained "content that endangers national security, and is all about a cultural invasion."
While the sales ban in China will likely be seen as a minor inconvenience for EA, the publisher is still dealing with a number of technical issues that affects all of the ports of "Battlefield 4." A month ago, the game"s main developer, Digital Illusions, announced it had stopped work on all other game projects to fix the bugs that have been plaguing "Battlefield 4" players since its October release.
Source: PCgames.com.cn via ZDNet | Image via EA