PlayStation fans in Australia have reported on Twitter that Hotline Miami 2 has been removed from sale and that PS5 owners who purchased the game have been refunded. The game was officially added to the PS store just over a year ago, nearly a decade after its initial release, but was subsequently removed because it never received an official rating from the notoriously stringent Australian Classification Board.
When the game first launched in 2015, designer Jonatan Söderström advised Australian fans to pirate the game as it had been blocked by the ACB. This was primarily due to the inclusion of a skippable scene depicting a simulated sexual assault. However, when the game was released on the PS5 last October and even included in the PS Plus Extra catalog, it seemed that Australian players could finally enjoy the game legally. This week, however, players were abruptly informed via email and a refund of their purchase, explaining the situation.
The message stated, "We have become aware that the product Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number has not received a proper rating from the Australian Classification Board and have therefore taken steps to refund customers who have purchased the game." The message further explained, "We have issued a refund of the total purchase price for the product back to your original payment method. This may take 30-60 days to appear on your bank statement." If the original payment method was unavailable, the refund would be credited to the PlayStation Network wallet.
Interestingly, this is not the first time the game has been inadvertently released on a digital storefront in Australia. In 2019, a similar incident occurred with the Nintendo Switch version, which was removed within 24 hours and remains unavailable.
