14 DAY TRIAL // The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service has announced that the upcoming fighting game Mortal Kombat was added to an official blacklist and that all those who try to import copies of the title will see them confiscated and might also receive a fine which can go up to 110,000 Australian dollars.
A spokesperson from the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service was contacted by GameSpot and stated, “As Mortal Kombat has been refused classification in Australia, it is considered objectionable material. It is therefore a prohibited good and illegal to import into Australia.”
He added, “Customs and Border Protection works closely with Attorney General’s Department to identify imported games that are banned in Australia. This includes games purchased over the Internet from foreign websites.”
The Australian Classification Board has refused to award a classification to Mortal Kombat and this week the government body also rejected an appeal coming from publisher Warner Bros., saying that Mortal Kombat will have a Refused Classification status, which makes its sales illegal in the country.
Traditionally, those games that are refused classification in certain territories can still be played by interested gamers that import them from outside of the country.
It's not clear how far the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service will go to search those who might import Mortal Kombat in order to seize all copies of the game.
Australia says the fighting game is too violent for the internal market.
The developers at NetherRealm Studios, headed by veteran designer Ed Boon, have said ever since the new Mortal Kombat was announced that they were aiming to get back to the roots of the franchise, which includes gory fatalities.
The all-new Mortal Kombat is being delivered on the PlayStation 3 from Sony and on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and will be launched on April 19 in North America and on the 21 in Europe.