In countries were any type of Nazi imagery is outright banned how did a game like Return to castle Wolvenstein ever see a release?
Was return to castle wolfenstein ever released in Germany or Austria
gaming-historyreturn-to-castle-wolfenstein
gaming-historyreturn-to-castle-wolfenstein
In countries were any type of Nazi imagery is outright banned how did a game like Return to castle Wolvenstein ever see a release?
Best Answer
I can't speak for Austria, but Return to Castle Wolfenstein was indeed released in Germany, though it was "indexed".
golem.de
Translation:
This means that while the game could be legally sold, it couldn't be done openly. Any copies for sale had to be hidden from the public, and customers had to specifically ask for the game and prove they were old enough to play it. This led to the following:
As a result, many stores preferred not to sell indexed media, as they couldn't advertise them, which made selling them more difficult. This also led to the popular belief that "indexed media can't be sold", which is not entirely correct (they can be sold), but also not entirely wrong (many choose not to).
In addition to that, the German version was censored:
Translation:
So, yes, Return to Castle Wolfenstein was indeed released in Germany (albeit censored), but most people never knew, as the game could not be advertised publicly.