Apple removes games featuring Confederate flag in the wake of Charlestown church shooting

The drive to eradicate the controversial Confederate flag has now reached the virtual world. Following in the footsteps of large retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, and Sears, Apple has removed several civil war games featuring Confederate flags from its App Store. The games, which include Ultimate General: Gettysburg, Civil War: 1862, and Civil War the Battle Game, were removed by the firm “because they feature images of the Confederate flag in offensive and mean-spirited ways”, according to TouchArcade.

The Confederate flag and other symbols of the Confederacy have been at the centre of debate since a 21-year-old gunman, accused of killing nine black worshippers in last week’s South Carolina church shooting, posed with the flag in photos posted online. While many Americans see it as a reminder of the many pre-Civil War injustices, there are others see it simply as a way to honor the soldiers who died for the Confederacy.

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“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,” the company said in a statement. “We are not removing apps that display the Confederate flag for educational or historical uses.”

However, not all game developers aren’t happy with Apple’s move.  Game-Labs, developers of Ultimate General: Gettysburg, called the move unjust, stating that Apple told them that the game could be reinstated if the Confederate flag were removed. Game-Labs won’t do it, the company said on its blog.

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“Spielberg’s Schindler’s List did not try to amend his movie to look more comfortable. The historical Gettysburg movie (1993) is still on iTunes,” Game-Labs said. “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. True stories are more important to us than money. We really hope that Apple’s decision will achieve the desired results. … We can’t change history, but we can change the future.”

Apple has pulled the tablet version of the game from Appstore because of the Confederate Flag. details coming…

Posted by Ultimate General: Gettysburg on Thursday, 25 June 2015

Some developers are also pointing out that games featuring the Nazi flag remain available on the App Store; and unlike the removed civil war games, many do not claim historical accuracy. For example, in Wolfenstein 3D, players storm a Nazi castle before killing a robot Hitler.

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