Wii U content restrictions are something that made a lot of people raise eyebrows, but it’s not something Nintendo wanted to do because their headquarters in Europe is based in Germany.
Germany has a law where you cannot show adult content before 11PM, and that’s the reason why Wii U will have the same restrictions.
The discovery was first made by NeoGAF member who wrote to Nintendo Italy about the said restriction.
“Dear customer, we would like to let you know that Nintendo has always aimed to offer gameplay experiences suited to all age groups, observing carefully all the relevant regulations regarding content access that are present in the various European countries,” Nintendo Italy responded.
“We have thus decided to restrict the access to content which is unsuitable to minors (PEGI) to the 11pm – 3am time window.”
According to a new report on Eurogamer, it has been confirmed that it is indeed due to German laws.
“At Nintendo we always aim to provide a safe gaming experience for fans of all ages and ensure that we comply with applicable legal age restriction requirements across Europe,” the statement read.
“Legal age restriction requirements vary across a number of European countries. Since Nintendo of Europe is based in Germany, Nintendo eShop is complying with German youth protection regulation which therefore applies to all our European markets. Under German law, content rated 18+ must be made available only at night.
“Therefore the accessibility of 18+ content in Nintendo eShop is limited to [USK: 22:00 UTC until 4:00 UTC] [PEGI: 23:00 UTC until 3:00 UTC].”
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