According to GamesLatest, a gaming website in the United Arab Emirates, the Arab nation has banned the sale of Darksiders.  As is the case with most Arab countries, the UAE declined to give a real reason for the banning, choosing instead to answer with the ubiquitous “contradicts with UAE’s customs and traditions.” 

Set in a world of Christian mythology, Darksiders deals with angels, demons, the Rapture, and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  With only 9% of its population classified as Christian, it’s hard to understand where this is coming from.  I would completely understand the UAE’s rejection if the game featured Islamic lore and myth; Muslims tend to take their religion a bit more seriously than most other faiths.  Perhaps religious tensions are so high in the country and the region that the “powers that be" are afraid to let in games that deal with ANY religion. 

In recent years, the Emirates have begun to cultivate their own gaming industry, with an MMO studio opening in the capital of Abu Dhabi, and Warner Bros. funding a $500 million initiative to grow the gaming industry.  If they want to become a haven for developers and publishers, the UAE will need to be more permissive of controversial games in the future.  Otherwise, they just end up like the festering prison that is Australia, except with man-made islands for billionaires.