Surprising nearly no one, the purposefully overt violence in Nether Realm’s Mortal Kombat reboot has gotten the game banned in the country of Australia. The country’s Classification Board has refused to rate the game, meaning it will not be available to legally release in the region. The board went further, requiring all advertisements to be removed from Australian stores and canceling all pre-orders.
Warner Brothers Interactive has released a statement on the matter:
The highly anticipated video game Mortal Kombat, published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) in Australia, has been refused classification by the Australian Classification Board and will not release in Australia. We are extremely disappointed that Mortal Kombat, one of the world’s oldest and most successful video games franchises, will not be available to mature Australian gamers.
WBIE would not market mature content where it is not appropriate for the audience. We understand that not all content is for every audience, but there is an audience for mature gaming content and it would make more sense to have the R18+ classification in Australia. As a member of the iGEA, WBIE is reviewing all options available at this time.
So Australia incorporated the R18+ into its rating system, yet it will still ignore games that should be placed into the classification, thus banning the game. What Fascists.
No, there is no R18+ rating yet, as the reason why it is being banned. I foresee Duke Nukem Forever befalling the same fate for some of the stuff that is in that game. It really sucks that the Australian government is so uptight about things.