Aliens vs Predator and The UK Games Biz

Digital Gore and Ratings

BT: Do you think you might have sabotaged your attempt at reaching a wider market with the amount of blood and snot and gore though?

Jason: Ah, the gore issue. Ok. Here’s what I think; we have always been aiming this game at grown-ups. As long as we stay within the law then I think that, from a creative perspective, we should be allowed to do whatever the bloody hell we like. Especially with violent, gory base IPs like Alien.

Aliens are not nice things, they are exo-parasites. They eat you. They are supposed to be horrible and there’s all sorts of symbolism in the Alien world – and the Predator world too, quite frankly – whether it’s intended or has evolved over time. They aren’t nice. The Predator hunts for trophies and skins people and displays their bodies. It wouldn’t be right creatively to dumb that down.

That’s why I’ve reacted quite strong to the whole Australian thing. I had to stay quiet afterwards too because we’ve always pitched this game at adults and it’s actually really hard to make a game based on these licenses without exploring the horror. That’s what it’s all about.


There’s no point in defanging it. It’s intrinsic to the license and while people will have their own opinions on whether or not we’ve gone too far with it I personally don’t think we have. I think we’re about right and I defend it for that, though I do say to people; don’t play it if you’re squeamish. If you can’t cope with 18 cert material then avoid it. It’s certainly not suitable for children in my opinion.

At the end of the day those people don’t have to buy it. They can buy The Sims instead – I’m fine with that. Different games for different people, but it’s our right as a creative studio to do the game in the way the franchise deserves.

BT: Did Fox share that opinion?

Jason: Yes, they were right behind us and so were Sega. We had discussions about whether or not we could do sanitised versions and, again, everyone decided no. The conversation came up and everybody said that it was silly and that it wouldn’t work.


The German market responded and said they weren’t going to sell it in Germany, or not officially anyway. I’m sure that European laws allow grey importing, but we won’t get a USK rating and we’ll just live with that. I applaud Fox and Sega for supporting us though, especially when we’ve stuck to our guns so much and told people that it’s not suitable for kids, because we don’t want people turning around and saying that ‘my 12 year old found it scary’. Yeah, course they would. Your 12 year old shouldn’t be playing the game.

BT: Do you think there should be changes to how the rating systems work in the UK?

Jason: No, I think it’s fine. The law is perfectly clear and straightforward and it’s always clear on the outside of the box what the game entails. It’s an interesting issue and it will continue to be an issue as long as people think that games are only for kids. The reality is that games aren’t only for kids, like books. Nobody ever says ‘you shouldn’t write this book because it has sex and violence in it and kids might read it’. Nobody questions that because it’s a book and everyone knows that some books are suitable for pre-schoolers and some aren’t.

And books don’t even have ratings on them, so how do you know not to buy the Marquis de Sade for your kid? Presumably you’d know they wouldn’t be interested in it, but nonetheless it’s there and available for anyone to buy. You could argue that books should have to be rated. They aren’t because we’ve grown up in a society that accepts that. We do have them for games though and, to be honest, I think the government does a pretty good job of balancing creative freedom with protection of the audience.