Ubisoft won't dare to release Wii game in the UK

We Dare, a "sexy" game for the Nintendo Wii and the Sony PlayStation 3 games consoles, will no longer be released in the UK.

The game, which was rated as suitable for children, had been widely criticised after Ubisoft launched a raunchy advertising campaign with the tagline "a sexy, quirky party game". It was due for release this Friday, but publisher Ubisoft has decided to remove it from sale.

A Ubisoft spokesperson said: "Following the public reaction to the 12+ rating of We Dare, Ubisoft has made the decision not to sell the game in the UK".

The decision comes after PEGI, the European games rating body, contacted Ubisoft asking it to remove an advert for the game from the internet. PEGI said it felt the advert did not "accurately reflect the nature and content of the product" and that it misled consumers.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, PEGI said that if the advert wasn't removed within three working days it would "consider further immediate sanctions against the publisher." The advert has now been taken down.

PEGI rated We Dare as suitable for children aged 12 and above, a decision that it stands by. Speaking to Computeractive, a spokesperson for the Video Standards Council, the administrator for PEGI in the UK, said that the issue was down to "the misleading nature of the advert" and that the content of the game was rated correctly.

Tim Smith, editorial director of gaming website Spong, said that the prominence of the We Dare story highlights a wider issue in the gaming industry:

"I'd prefer the games industry to be worried about the weakness of creativity that provides us with 'Sexy Party Games', sequels and tedious licences", he said, adding that he thought the marketing for the game was "lazy" and a "huge error".

"It smacked to me as something from the 1970s in fact. Withdrawing it from sale? It's a product, not a political statement."

Ubisoft would not comment on whether or not the game would still be available in the rest of Europe, although Amazon's French and German stores are still listing the game for sale.

The company also declined to comment on any reported intervention by PEGI.