KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 —It has been confirmed that the long-awaited Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 -ame which is due to release tomorrow — will not be available in Kuwait.
Kuwaiti authorities blocked the release of the popular first-person shooter game days before its global launch, reported Middle East Eye as well as a confirmation from game production studio Activision.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 has not been approved for release in Kuwait. At this time, the title will not be available for release in [the] region," stated Activision.
“As a result, all preorders in Kuwait will be cancelled and refunded to the original point of purchase. We remain hopeful that local authorities will reconsider, and allow players in Kuwait to enjoy this all-new experience in the Black Ops series.”
Set during the first Gulf War, Black Ops 6 is the newest entry in the Call of Duty franchise, and revolves around a clandestine force infiltrating the CIA.
With no official reason offered by Kuwaiti authorities, social media users speculated that the backdrop of the war, which began with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, was the reason behind the ban.
One gaming analyst told the New Arab: “Kuwait, to this day, has difficulty engaging with that specific moment in history, for good or ill”.
The Gulf War remains a deeply sensitive chapter in Kuwaiti history, with the effects still felt today. Under then-president Saddam Hussein, Iraq invaded the country with around 100,000 troops in hopes of controlling its vast oil resources.
The war lasted for 42 days, with a US-led coalition of 42 countries forcing Iraqi troops out of Kuwait, while carrying out an intense bombing campaign on Iraqi units in Iraq and Kuwait.
An estimated two million landmines are believed to have been placed in Kuwait at the time, and reports indicate that the country’s desert areas “remain contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance”, affecting and killing civilians to this day.
Images of burning oil fields in the game trailer are reminiscent of how Iraqi troops set fire to some 700 wells, causing a massive ecological and economic blow to the country.
Controversies and bans however, is something the franchise is very familiar with.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II included a mission targeting an Iranian military leader named “Ghorbrani” — which many immediately was too close for comfort to the real-life assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, which drew criticism online.
In 2021, Activision came under fire for a scene in Call of Duty: Vanguard's Zombies, in which pages from the Quran, the Islamic holy book, were scattered on the floor that was quickly followed by a call for a boycott of the game before the US gamemakers issued an apology and removed the content.
Call of Duty — a first-person shooter game that began in 2003 — also had a previous chapter banned by both China and Russia in 2009 when the game allowed players to take part in a militant attack on a Russian airport, killing civilians.
