Aussie Classification Board quashes Mortal Kombat appeal

Despite initial inaction, Warner Bros. Interactive ended up filing an appeal to overturn the Mortal Kombat ban in Australia.  While the news was certainly exciting, few expected them to succeed, since the publisher decided to resubmit the game without any edits.

Their reasoning was relatively sound, being that Mortal Kombat was no more violent or gruesome than other games already on the market.  Unfortunately -- and not surprisingly -- the Australian Classification Board doesn't care about logic, and the appeal has been rejected.

"In the Review Board’s opinion, Mortal Kombat could not be accommodated within the MA15+ classification as the level of violence in the game has an impact which is higher than strong," the board explained in a statement regarding their decision.  "As MA15+ is the highest classification category available to computer games under the Australian Classification Scheme, the Classification Review Board must refuse classification to Mortal Kombat."

Of course, this wouldn't be as big of an issue if Australia had a real 'mature' rating.  Setting the maximum age rating at 15 does prove problematic for the majority of the gaming demographic, not to mention the industry itself.  Warner Bros. has expressed dismay over the failed appeal, laying blame on the country's flawed rating system.

"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.”