Games that revolve around the American Civil War and feature the Confederate flag have been removed by Apple from the App Store.
Touch Arcade reports that games like Ultimate General: Gettysburg and the Hunted Cow are no longer available for purchase through the store.
“We have removed apps from the App Store that use the Confederate flag in offensive or mean-spirited ways، which is in violation of our guidelines،” Apple told the site in a statement.
Ultimate General: Gettysburg developers at Game Labs said that the flag’s inclusion in their game is historically accurate، referencing the game’s depiction of that period’s battles.
“The historical “Gettysburg” movie (1993) is still on iTunes. We believe that all historical art forms: books، movies، or games such as ours، help to learn and understand history، depicting events as they were،” says Game Labs’ Maxim Zasov.
Other major retailers like Amazon and Walmart have too ceased all selling of merchandise featuring the Confederate flag. Apple’s response to the issue brings to memory its reaction to games with violent imagery، which resulted in the removal of number of screenshots for some games.
This comes amid the current debate in US following the Charleston Church shooting، which revived nation-wide conversations about the Confederate flag and its place in modern America.
Source: vg247.com / BBC