Australia has banned hundreds of mobile titles that have been "refused classification" under a new pilot programme.

Working with the International Age Rating Coalition, which asks developers to self-evaluate the nature of their in-game content, the Australian Classification Board has refused classification for over 260 games that do not "reflect the Australian community's expectations and standards."

All banned games so far come from Google Play and the Firefox Marketplace; the IARC expects Xbox Live, Nintendo's eShop, and the PlayStation Store to follow suit. As the iOS App Store is subject to its own internal ratings system, it is not part of the IARC's programme.

The reasoning behind most of the bans can be easily traced to drugs, violence, gambling, and sex; however, some more friendly games like the match-three title Pop Pet and the colour-matcher Pinpoint appear to have slipped through the cracks.

Australia has a long history of banning games, including titles like Fallout 3, as for decades the MA15+ rating was the highest given to games.

In 2013, the Classification Board introduced an 18+ rating to allow the sale of games for adults, but some games, including Hotline Miami 2, were still refused classification.

The board's relationship with the IARC will be re-evaluated after twelve months.