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Devolver Digital is running into trouble with its game, Weedcraft, despite cannabis entering into an age of legalization. The game is about managing a cannabis business from startup to empire, but the videos have been demonetized on YouTube. Facebook is also causing trouble with the game which covers multiple scenarios from prohibition to full legalization. Treatment of the game on those, and other platforms, has been inconsistent.
"It's really hard to say how the game will be affected," Wilson told me. "A lot depends on how much [digital marketplaces] Steam and GOG continue to support its visibility and how many people share the story. All we can do is try to make a conversation happen around the industry and with gamers about this insanity and try to make changes. "
Wilson also pointed out that both YouTube and Facebook run ads for hyper-violent video games. Assault is illegal pretty much everywhere, whereas recreational weed use is legal in many states, such as California, Colorado, and all of Canada.
"We all know that violence/murder is A-OK, and that sex or drugs are not, even when presented in a thoughtful way to an audience with an average age of 40, but we've all known that for far too long," he said.
See also: YouTube, Facebook put up ad roadblocks for Weedcraft, Inc. business sim
(Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday April 14 2019, @12:50PM
I have not played the game but I looked at a few screenshots and it looks like some pretty ordinary business tycoon type simulator, except that you are growing and selling weed instead of pizza/videogames/trains/whatever-tycoon-type-game-it-is-product. So I'm not sure if the developer are just trying to on the edge by it being weed instead. Still it looks like you can have a choice in the game if you want to be a legal weed business or an illegal weed business.
But then I guess this isn't really so much about what looks like a fairly ordinary biz-sim-game but about the fact that Facebook and Youtube are demonetizing due to the weed content. Sure while it is now starting to be legal in a few states or countries isn't it still illegal in more of them? They might not want to have to geofilter things depending on where the user are to see if it should give ads or monies. While violent videogames are a thing on their own, they do ban those to from time to time, I'm not sure Youtube et al would have done anything different here if it had been a gun-tycoon type game where you sold guns out of your van. Also as noted -- their platform, their rules. If you don't like it get your own platform.