Saints Row 4 delayed in Australia, distributor confirms

Volition's upcoming open-world game, Saints Row 4, has been delayed in Australia from Aug. 22 to Sept. 12 for Windows PC and Xbox 360, and Sept. 19 for PlayStation 3, Australian distributor All Interactive Entertainment confirmed today.

"Australian fans of Saints Row 4 will obviously be disappointed with this delay," stated Robert Kingston, director at All Interactive Entertainment. "We have used every means at our disposal to minimize the delay, but unfortunately it just was not possible to keep the same street date as the rest of the world."

Australians who pre-order Saints Row 4 from Australian retailers and pick up the game within 48 hours of launch will receive a free Presidential Pack DLC code "as a thank you to fans for their patience." The pack, a GameStop and EB Games pre-order special, contains character skins for Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

Hints arose that the Australian date was pushed backed when retailers and distributors shifted their release for the game earlier this week from the original Aug. 22 date to a September launch window. Steam shifted its release timeframe to a broad September launch, while retailers like EB Games and JB Hi Fi changed their dates to Sept. 12.

The game was refused classification by the Australian Classification Board in June, specifically due to in-game use of "alien narcotics" and a weapon called an Alien Anal Probe. Deep Silver resubmitted a censored version of Saints Row 4 to the Board, which received an MA15+ rating in Australia earlier this month.

The "rectifier weapon" will remain in the revised version as part of a DLC package. Because using "illicit or proscribed drug use" as incentives in a game is prohibited by the Board's guidelines, the censored Australian version of Saints Row 4 omits a mission where players obtain and smoke the alien narcotics. As a result of the missing mission, the Australian version of Saints Row 4 is incompatible for co-operative play with other regions.

Saints Row 4 launched Aug. 20 in North America for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PC.