Black Ops 6 has not been given approval to release by Kuwaiti officials, and pre-orders in the region have been cancelled.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is set during the First Gulf War, which began when Saddam Hussein attempt to annex Kuwait and make it the 19th province of Iraq.
We don't yet know the plot of BO6, but we can be confident the player will be fighting on the side of the US-led coalition, who liberated Kuwait. We would therefore expect the country to be painted in a sympathetic light, but Kuwaiti officials are reportedly unhappy with the finished product and have not given it permission to release on October 25.
Black Ops 6 was not approved by relevant authorities in Kuwait
According to a content creator based in the Middle East, "Black Ops 6 will not be available in the State of Kuwait 🇰🇼 due to lack of official approval from the relevant authorities". He goes on to mention that all pre-orders have been cancelled:
khbr aaagl orsmy: maa alasf ln ttofr laab@ #BlackOps6 blak aobs 6 fy dol@ alkoyt KW nthra laadm hsolha aal~ almoafkat alrsmy@ mn alghat almkhts@ olthlk marah tkon mtofr@ yom alatlak 25 aktobr. kl ally msoyn tlb msbk rah ygyhm astrgaaa llmblgh oalghaaa lltlb.fryk @CallofDutyARA ytaml... pic.twitter.com/E4s0eWbytT
— CANCEL (@aldaejam) October 16, 2024
It is still possible that the Call of Duty Middle East team will be able to come to some agreement with Kuwaiti officials so that fans in the region can play, but so far they have failed to do so.
The exact reason for the game not receiving official approval is unclear. We know the game will be set during the Gulf War and will therefore presumably take place in Kuwait, so perhaps the country's portrayal was seen as problematic in some way, but that's mere speculation on our part.
We await official confirmation as to why the game failed to be approved. And hopefully a deal can be reached for the sake of fans in the region.