Google has banned self-proclaimed historically-accurate World War 2 game Attentat 1942 from the Google Play Store in Germany, Russia, Austria, and France.
Developed by Charles Games in collaboration with historians from the Czech Academy of Sciences, Attentat 1942 is a game that goals to show the horrors of struggle in a honest and sombre means. Back in 2018, it was nominated for Excellence in Narrative at GDC’s Independent Games Festival.
However, Charles Games has been having a tough time making an attempt to port it to cellular, principally due to Google Play tips. Check out the tweet beneath.
Google rejected Attentat 1942 attributable to Nazi references. After all of the laborious work, a number of e-mails, approval by German regulators, we’re pissed off. How we’re purported to make an historically-accurate game about WW2 horrors with out Nazis? We do not know. A thread. #indiegame #gamedev pic.twitter.com/iurQOzpvZd
— Charles Games (@CharlesGames_cz) July 17, 2020
“Google rejected Attentat 1942 due to Nazi references,” the tweet reads. “After all the hard work, multiple e-mails, approval by German regulators, we’re frustrated.”
“How we’re supposed to make an historically-accurate game about WW2 horrors without Nazis? We don’t know.”
The crew additionally notes that they spent six months porting the game from PC to cellular, and have now been blocked from at the least 4 international locations’ app shops. According to the thread, Norwegian game My Child Lebensborn – described as “captivating” on this occasion – had comparable points with Google Play laws.
But in line with Charles Games, Attentat 1942 is “firmly anti-fascist.”
While we agree that shops and platforms need to cope with hateful content material, if reviewers took a more in-depth take a look at Attentat 1942 for only a second, they’d discover out we aren’t that. Attentat 1942 is firmly anti-fascist. https://t.co/QJpmM5kxbU
— Charles Games (@CharlesGames_cz) July 17, 2020
“While we agree that stores and platforms have to deal with hateful content, if reviewers took a closer look at Attentat 1942 for just a moment, they would find out we are not that,” reads the tweet. “Attentat 1942 is firmly anti-fascist.”
Shortly afterwards, Charles Games posted a follow up tweet, which featured a screenshot of the consultant from Google stating that they had been, “not able to provide a better answer” in relation to why the game had been banned and why the appeals had been falling on deaf ears.
Fortunately for Charles Games, Google Czech is getting concerned:
Breaking: Google Czech contacted us. We talked they usually promised to look into the Attentat 1942’s rejection from the Play Store additional. Let’s keep cautiously optimistic 🤞🏻
— Charles Games (@CharlesGames_cz) July 20, 2020
“Google Czech contacted us,” reads the tweet. “We talked and they promised to look into the Attentat 1942’s rejection from the Play Store further.”
“Let’s stay cautiously optimistic,” it concludes.
