Nintendo Removes Switch Game About Drunk Driving From eShop

Nintendo has pulled a driving game from the Switch eShop after it used an incorrect PEGI rating. The game in question, Need for Spirit: Drink & Drive Simulator, arrived on the eShop on October 15 with a PEGI 3+ rating and probably isn't something that you'd want younger members of the family to play if you want to instill in them some good driving sense.

As spotted by Eurogamer, Need for Spirit was originally released on Steam back in 2018, and its gameplay revolves around a "hapless professional driver tasked with delivering alcoholic beverages to various celebrations, all while battling the perils of abysmal roads and your very own addiction to the booze you're transporting," according to its store listing.

While it has no age rating on Steam, it does have a PEGI 16 rating on the Epic Game Store for its use of alcohol and tobacco. Ordinarily, a PEGI 3+ rating is used for family-friendly games, while any game which "refers to or depicts the use of illegal drugs, alcohol or tobacco" must carry a PEGI 16 or PEGI 18. The game is now under investigation by PEGI, and it will have to be resubmitted to the Nintendo eShop with a more accurate rating.

"When an investigation shows that the PEGI rating changes by more than one age category, the game is taken down and Nintendo requires that the game is resubmitted with an accurate rating (to ensure their parental control tools work properly)," a PEGI spokesperson said to Eurogamer.

While the Switch is home to some of the best games around from Nintendo's various first-party studios and third-party developers, the store also has a major problem with shovelware games. These are typically low-effort experiences that conveniently launch with massive discounts, and developers aren't afraid to release clones of popular games so that they can rise to the top of the eShop charts.

One notable and recent example of this would be The Last Hope: Dead Zone Survival, a brazen knockoff of The Last of Us that was briefly available on the eShop before it was taken down. Who knows? If you forked out a buck for the game and still have it on your Switch, it might (but probably won't) be as valuable as a PS4 with PT installed on it.