Illicit Copies of Hotline Miami 2 Pulled From Aussie PS5's as PlayStation Finally Catches On

In shockingly un-Australian fashion, it appears someone has been talking to the authorities. After initially being refused classification at launch in 2015, Aussie players in the know have been able to enjoy the illicit Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number for the past year or so. Apparently, some genius simply forgot to apply that restriction to the bundled Hotline Miami Collection for PS5. Well, it seems the jig is up, and Sony has finally pulled digital access, issuing refunds automatically.

As noted by Eurogamer, it's kind of incredible that we got away with it as long as we did. Last October, the Hotline Miami Collection was released natively for PS5, and it just sort of slipped through the cracks. Aussie PS5 players enjoyed another knowing wink and a chuckle when the sordid sequel was, incredibly, later added to the PlayStation Plus Extra catalogue. We awoke to the below email from PlayStation:

Hotline Miami 2 fell afoul of the at-times draconian Australian Classification Board (ACB) initially due to an unskippable scene depicting simulated sexual violence, and memorably, designer Jonatan Söderström told Aussie fans to "just pirate it". Eurogamer reached out to Devolver Digital for comment on this surprise removal, and in typical, legendary fashion, the publisher replied with the following visual statement: