Apple’s Stance On Controversial Games Is A Little Insulting


Apple has had some problems recently with “serious” titles on its iOS store, which have been falling foul of some rather tight restrictions of what can and can’t be represented in a game. We’ve seen a World War II game barred for using historically-accurate Japanese flags, and more recently, a game about Syria knocked back because it’s about a contentious political topic.

You would think that, in the wake of protests about these restrictions, Apple would be doing something to maybe clean things up a little, or respond to public criticism. Nope. VentureBeat has posted some of the guidelines developers must adhere to when making games (or apps in general) for the App Store, and they basically tell you to shove it.

We view apps different than books or songs, which we do not curate. If you want to criticise a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical app. It can get complicated, but we have decided to not allow certain kinds of content in the App Store.

How diplomatic.

You hear that, game developers? Never mind that your medium allows for powerful artistic and political statements to be made, and that it’s the field you’re trained and qualified to work in. That stuff just doesn’t fly here. If you want to criticise a religion, write a book. Why? Oh, it’s complicated, so let’s just leave it at that. It’s complicated. OK?

Apple: ‘Want to criticise religion? Write a book’ – don’t make a game [VentureBeat]


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


9 responses to “Apple’s Stance On Controversial Games Is A Little Insulting”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *