Starfield gets Restricted rating in Australia for "interactive drug use"

Starfield has received a Restricted age rating from Australia's Classification Board, chiefly due to "interactive drug use."

The newly published rating recommends Starfield for players over 18 years old and breaks down its content into six categories: themes, violence, language, drug use, nudity, and sex - you know, all the good stuff. Apparently, Starfield is relatively mild in all areas except for violence and drug use.

According to the Australian Government, Starfield only as "moderate impact" themes and language, "very mild impact" nudity, and virtually zero sex. However, its violence is rated as being "strong impact" and its drug use nabs the top spot for being the most least kid-friendly - and the main reason for the rating.

The verbiage "interactive drug use" interests me. Does it mean we'll get to actually interact with drugs in Starfield - as in, do them? Because Starfield's world of over 100 systems and 1,000 planets already looks trippy enough without needing to throw drugs into the mix. 

Otherwise, this is all pretty standard fare. It's a bit surprising to see Australia slap such a restrictive rating on what's likely to be Xbox's single biggest release of the year, but we've yet to see what other ratings boards, like the ESRB in the US and PEGI in the UK, have to say about Starfield.

Starfield was recently delayed out of the first half of 2023 and is now scheduled to launch on September 6. Look out for an in-depth gameplay showcase airing on June 11 during the Starfield Direct.

Here are some more upcoming Xbox Series X games to look forward to.