Hunter x Hunter Nen x Impact was refused an age rating in Australia by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts’ Classification Board on November 18, banning the upcoming fighting game from being released in the country in all but name. Polygon has learned that the issue involved “implicit sexual violence” against minors.
At the time of the announcement was Australia Website of the Classification Society noticed that Nen x Impact was considered Status ‘Refused classification’indicating that something in the game is “beyond generally accepted community standards” and even exceeds what can be included in the country’s most extreme R18+ and X18+ ratings.
A spokesperson for the Australian Classification Board responded to comments from Polygon on December 5 to explain its classification Hunter x Hunter Nen x Impactsaying the game “contains a scene that visually depicts implied sexual violence, involving an adult male exposing himself to persons under the age of 18.”
Australia has long been known for banning games with content it considers extreme. The Parliament of Australia approved and applied the creation of the R18+ category in 2012 Grand Theft Auto 5 a year later for “High Impact Drug Use” and strong themes, language, sex, violence and nudity.
While it’s easy to understand why a review board might have trouble with adult-oriented releases like Sinterklaas 4 And Hotline Miami 2it remains unclear why Nen x Impact exceeded the censorship threshold. (The spokesperson did not provide specific details or scenes that led to the decision.) But the Australian Classification Board’s description is reminiscent of a moment from the manga and anime arc Greed Island in which Hisoka, a clown with a bad reputation , is confronted by child protagonists Gon and Killua while bathing in a lake. Hisoka has no qualms about turning them and showing them with his full frontal nudity. Gon and Killua are clearly uncomfortable by the encounter and another character, Goreinu, calls Hisoka a pervert, but they pretty much continue the conversation from there as if nothing strange happened.
“The Council noted in its report that the implied sexual violence is implicitly condoned because it cannot be resolved through the game’s narrative, and is not justified by the context,” the Council’s official statement added. “Implied sexual violence that is visually depicted, interactive, not justified by context, or related to incentives or rewards is not permitted.”
Hunter x Hunter Nen x Impact was originally slated for a 2024 launch on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC, but that was it officially pushed back from September to 2025 to give developers the extra time needed to implement a more solid infrastructure for online play, known as rollback netcode.
Update (December 5): Following publication of the original story, Polygon received a statement from the Australian Classification Board regarding the explanation for its ruling Hunter x Hunter Nen x Impact. We’ve updated the story to reflect the new details.