A special edition The Last of Us 2 credit card is being released in China. This product placement wouldn’t be all that strange except for one thing: there isn’t likely to be a The Last of Us 2 China release.
Naughty Dog has been hard at work making the highly-anticipated sequel to 2013’s The Last of Us and you can expect tons of cool promotional items to make their debut in the coming weeks. One of these items is a “Bank of Communications” Credit Card for Mainland China featuring either Ellie and Joel or the Fireflies logo.
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The strange thing about this product placement is that it represents a game that may not actually be released in China. China has a notoriously strict game rating board, and much of the content in this game falls afoul of banned subjects in that country.
“The great irony of course is that TLOU will never be approved for sale in China due to regulations that prohibit this level of violence and other elements,” explained Niko Partners Senior Analyst Daniel Ahmad on Twitter. “So China cannot legally buy the game, but I guess they can buy the US or HK version with this credit card lol.”
Ahmad clarified that there is a “whole list” of banned topics, one of which is the depictions of zombie characters. It is also likely that the game’s LGBTQ content will mean that it’s unlikely to receive a release in that country.
At the minimum, Chinese gamers are getting a cool piece of merch. Whether or not there will be a The Last of Us 2 China release is another story.
The great irony of course is that TLOU will never be approved for sale in China due to regulations that prohibit this level of violence and other elements.
So China cannot legally buy the game, but I guess they can buy the US or HK version with this credit card lol.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) June 8, 2020
