Indonesia has banned Mortal Kombat 11

In a surprisingly last-minute move, Warner Brothers will not be releasing Mortal Kombat 11 in Indonesia. This news comes from the official Warner Brothers Games Support Twitter account, as a response to a fan asking about the status of the game in Indonesian waters.

Mortal Kombat 11 will not be released in the Indonesian market to ensure that we are compliant with local laws within that country. Our decision may be further reviewed at a later date. We appreciate your understanding.

— WBGames Support (@WBGamesSupport) 17 April 2019

The official account stated that the game won’t be released due to the country’s local laws. However, they noted that this decision might be reviewed at a later date. No explanation was given on what laws exactly are holding the game back, but it’s more than possible that the game’s violence is causing issues with its release internationally.

This news comes at a strange time, days away from the game’s full release. Several Indonesians were upset at the news, stating they had already pre-ordered the game months before, but were assured they would be fully refunded. In relation to this, Warner Brothers also confirmed that the game won’t be releasing in Ukraine, with a SteamDB listing confirming that the game won’t see a release in Japan either.

We have canceled the release of Mortal Kombat 11 in the Ukrainian market to ensure that we are compliant with local laws within that country. Our decision may be further reviewed based on changes to the laws. We apologize for any disappointment this might have caused.

— WBGames Support (@WBGamesSupport) 17 April 2019

Violent games have a history of being censored in certain countries to keep in accordance with their local laws. For example, Resident Evil 7 was censored in Japan to remove or change certain violent and gory aspects of the game. One would think developer Netherrealm would go down this road to ensure its full release worldwide. However, Ed Boon, the game’s director, assured Game Informer during an interview that the game would not be censored anywhere if his development team could help it.