Middle-Eastern Players Fear The Last of Us Part II Ban

The Last of Us Part II may have been banned in some Middle Eastern countries. Earlier this week, some Reddit users discussed their inability to pre-order the game in countries including the United Arab Emirates.

In the UK, players are able to access the store page for the upcoming game, and to pre-order the title ahead of its release next month. In both the UAE and Saudi Arabia, however, a search for the game yields only avatars and PlayStation themes based around the Ellie's upcoming adventure, leading some players to assume that the game has been banned in the countries in question.

While the game is not available for pre-order, it is possible for players to circumvent the geographical restrictions that could be preventing them from purchasing it. It's still unclear exactly why this might be occurring, but many fingers are pointing at the LGBT themes that the game's marketing have already depicted, and which have caused some other media, such as Pixar's recent Onward, not to get an official release in the some Middle Eastern territories. We reached out to Sony for clarification, but received no reply by time of publication.