Doom launching uncut in Germany — a franchise first

When the new Doom launches in Germany later this year, it will do so without any cuts for content or other restrictions, according to publisher Bethesda Softworks' German office. This makes it the first title in the series to debut in that country in its complete, original form.

"We're pleased the game can be released in its entirety in Germany without the need to edit or change anything," Bethesda vice president of marketing Pete Hines told Polygon. "Perhaps not all that surprising given how other titles have been rated there recently, but still a cool thing to see given that Doom and Doom 2 were banned in Germany and were delisted a few years ago."

Up until 2011, uncut games in the Doom series were restricted from sale in Germany. This is due to indexing by the nation's Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons upon their release, a motion that resulted in a commercial ban. The indexing typically lasts for a period of 10 years, after which an appeal is allowed.

Bethesda, which picked up the series' intellectual property in 2009, successfully appealed the federal ban in August 2011; Doom and Doom 2 are now available for purchase in the country in an unedited form.

Just last week, another Bethesda game was removed from Germany's restricted list. Although only seven years have passed since its release, Fallout 3 has been delisted, allowing players to purchased the uncensored version of the game in the country.

"Fallout 4 was released uncut," Hines explained, "and so in light of that we asked them to reconsider on Fallout 3, since the two games are pretty equivalent in terms of content, violence, etc. And they did, and so the worldwide version of Fallout 3 was delisted there."

Fans can look forward to Doom when it launches uncensored on May 13. Pre-orders are now live for the Xbox One version, which comes with both the original Doom and Doom 2 for a limited time.