DICT blocks GoreBox in Philippines after talks with developer

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has blocked GoreBox in the Philippines after the game’s developer agreed to the restriction following discussions with the government.

DICT Secretary Henry Aguda said on August 26 that the department had formally reached out to the German developer, F2Games, presented its notices and evidence, and asked the company what measures it could take to prevent what authorities described as the game’s harmful effects. According to Aguda, the developer did not provide the requested response and eventually agreed to the block.

Aguda said the decision was mutually agreed upon rather than a unilateral government ban, after the developer was given an opportunity to respond. F2Games developer Felix Filip had also declined an invitation to appear before a Senate hearing concerning the June shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City.

The government initially blocked GoreBox temporarily in June after investigators found that one of the minor suspects in the Tacloban shooting regularly played the game. The attack left three people dead and 20 injured. Authorities have not established that playing GoreBox caused or motivated the shooting.

GoreBox is a physics-based sandbox game that allows players to create scenarios and interact with weapons and other objects. F2Games has previously described the game as an 18+ title that is not intended for minors.

The permanent restriction also comes after the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center previously said the game could remain blocked if its developer failed to provide adequate safeguards, including measures to prevent minors from bypassing age restrictions.

DICT’s handling of GoreBox is different from its ongoing discussions with Roblox. Aguda said Roblox has completed three of five measures requested by the Philippine government, including default parental controls, monitoring for violent tendencies in chats and age-based game classification. The remaining requests involve connecting Roblox’s verification system to the Philippine National ID system and establishing a local office in the country.

DICT is scheduled to meet Roblox executives in Singapore on August 27 to discuss the remaining measures. For GoreBox, however, the government’s discussions with its developer have ended with the game being blocked in the Philippines