After months of legal battles, the British ban on Manhunt 2 has finally been lifted.
About nine months ago, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) announced that they had effectively banned Manhunt 2 by refusing to grant it an age rating. As expected, Rockstar filed an appeal to the British Video Appeals Committee (VAC) who decided to overrule the BBFC's ban just to have them contest the overruling in front of the British High Court. The British High Court in turn decided to revoke VAC's decision and ordered them to reconsider it in light of the court's legal remarks.
Finally, VAC decided to uphold its decision and force BBFC to grant Manhunt 2 an age rating of 18.
BBFC confirmed that no further legal action is possible and that they will issue Manhunt 2 the aforementioned age certificate.
"As I have said previously, we never take rejection decisions lightly, and they always involve a complex balance of considerations. We twice rejected Manhunt 2, and then pursued a judicial review challenge, because we considered, after exceptionally thorough examination, that it posed a real potential harm risk," stated BBFC director David Cooke.
"However, the Video Appeals Committee has again exercised its independent scrutiny. It is now clear, in the light of this decision, and our legal advice, that we have no alternative but to issue an '18' certificate to the game," he added.
