If you’ve been watching the news recently, you’ll know of the huge debate in the U.S over the role of the Confederate flag in contemporary America. Many see it as a reminder of the many pre-Civil War injustices while others see it simply as a way to honor the soldiers who died for the Confederacy.
Taking cue from corporate honchos like Walmart and Google, Apple has decided to ban games and apps featuring the ‘confederate flag’ in mean and offensive ways.
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.
a spokesperson said to BuzzFeed News.
Games like “Ultimate General: Gettysburg” were recently pulled, but as of Thursday there are still apps displaying the flag under the books and reference categories of the App Store.
Apple has removed our game from AppStore because of usage of the Confederate Flag.
Game-Labs, developer of ‘Ultimate General: Gettysburg’ said.
Other banned games include Hunted Cow’s ‘Civil War 1862’, ‘Civil War 1863’, ‘Civil War 1864’ and ‘Civil War Gettysburg.’ The developer has issued a statement saying the games art will be refurbished with an earlier Confederate flag.
To maintain historical accuracy, the company will not remove the flag from the game so that it can be accepted back, Game-Labs said.
Apple’s Tim Cook had recently spoken against displaying the Confederate flag, so I suppose this development was to be expected. Apple should tread the path very carefully as censoring historical games is a sensitive matter, as they don’t promote causes, rather they serve much-needed educational purposes.
UPDATE :
The company denied issuing a blanket ban however, stating that the flag can be shown for “educational or historical uses.”
