Russia slaps 18+ rating on The Sims 4 due to inclusion of gay relationships

Upcoming EA title The Sims 4 has been given an 18+ age rating in Russia owing to the country’s laws regarding promoting homosexuality to minors.

The news was confirmed by the Russian Sims Twitter account, which Arstechnica translates as saying: "18+ [rating] has been assigned in accordance with the law number 436-FZ ‘On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development’.”

For comparison The Sims are typically rated as 12 by PEGI in Europe, as T (13+) in the US and M (15+) in Australia.

Russia passed 436-FZ law in 2010, garnering widespread criticism in the process. Last year it was amended to make the promotion of homosexuality a crime in the country.

President Vladimir Putin has also been personally criticised for his stance on same sex relationships. Earlier this year he declared before the Sochi Winter Olympics that: [Russia] does not have a ban on non-traditional sexual relationships. We have a ban on the propaganda of homosexuality and paedophilia. I want to underline this. Propaganda among children.

"We are not forbidding anything and nobody is being grabbed off the street, and there is no punishment for such kinds of relations. You can feel relaxed and calm [in Russia], but leave children alone please."

This new Sims 4 furore follows last week’s turmoil over Nintendo’s Tomodachi Life, which does not allow characters to marry others of the same sex.