No Dragon Age: Inquisition for India as EA pulls RPG

EA has withdrawn Dragon Age: Inquisition from India, fearing that the game could fall foul of the country's increasingly severe yet vague laws governing indecency and obscenity.

Pre-orders for the game have been cancelled and the publisher has said that there are no plans to release the game in the territory for any platform.

Initial reports suggested that it was Inquisition's gay relationships which had given EA cause for caution, especially as LGBT rights in India have been in rapid decline of late. Previous games featuring same-sex romance have been distributed in India, for example, but recent additions to laws have added restrictions - last year a previously elided law was reinstated which recriminalised homosexuality. However, the publisher has denied that it's the stance on gay love which has caused the retraction, instead blaming the broad and non-specific rulings on "lascivious" materials.

In a statement to Kotaku, EA clarified the issue a little, but not to any definite conclusion.

"In order to avoid a breach of local content laws, EA has withdrawn Dragon Age: Inquisition from sale in India and the game is no longer available for pre-order," a representative told the site. "Customers who pre-ordered the game will be contacted directly and will be fully refunded.

"The decision here is in relation to local obscenity laws, but not specific to same gender romance."

India's laws on what is or is not obscene leave a lot up to individual judgements, but distribution of electronic materials which are found to infringe the law are punishable by up to ten years imprisonment.