Australia has historically been known for its stricter rules and regulations when it comes to bestowing appropriate age certificates to entertainment media, especially video games. In recent years they’ve become more accommodating and allowed more graphic content to release in the region, though that hasn’t always been the case. Refused Classification (RC) ratings have been handed out to We Happy Few, Kingdom: Come Deliverance, DayZ, and Hotline Miami. Perhaps more interestingly, however, a mystery submission from Rockstar Games titled “Bonaire,” which may or may not be Red Dead Redemption 2 DLC, was recently refused.
In 2014, the Australian Classification Board introduced the automated International Age Rating Coalition (IARC), helping to reduce the cost of securing the appropriate classification needed to distribute video games. Whilst the reasonably new system cuts costs, evidently it isn’t opposed to delaying proceedings through somewhat regular refusals. The listing provided by the IARC doesn’t provide much information to go on, beyond the “Bonaire” name and tying Rockstar to the project, but it’s possible to form some reasonable speculate based just on that.
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Bonaire is a Carribean island, and anybody that’s at least reached Red Dead Redemption 2‘s fifth chapter will know that protagonist Arthur Morgan finds himself in Guarma. This tropical island to the east of Cuba can’t be returned to by conventional means within the singleplayer campaign once the player leaves and doesn’t exist at all online, so it only seems natural that Rockstar might want to make more of the Carribean scenery which they’ve already worked on and only implemented fleetingly.
A new expansion would likely introduce the region to Red Dead Online, the game’s successful post-launch multiplayer component. That’s assuming that Bonaire isn’t actually an entirely new title from Rockstar Games, however, with the clear Red Dead Redemption 2 connection and mounting evidence that Bully 2 might be the studio’s next project, it doesn’t seem all too likely.
