GamezineMag - Console & PC Were Asked to Not Support Six Days in Fallujah, for News, Publishing, and Educational Purposes in Game Development

                                               

Credit: Screen Rant

An advocacy group is calling on Sony, Microsoft, and Valve to proactively ban Six Days in Fallujah for the historical FPS's alleged normalization of anti-Muslim hate. Although Six Days in Fallujah was ditched eleven years ago for its controversial depiction of the Iraq War, publisher Victura and developer Highwire Games have revitalized the project - along with the warranted backlash surrounding it. The trailer for Six Days in Fallujah arrived in March but did little to convince critics that the project is worth reviving. The title claims to be a realistic, documentarian depiction of the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004, many feel as though the game is offensive to everyone involved in the real-life event, especially the civilians who were killed in the fighting.

The tactical shooter is set during the Iraq War, with the purpose of revealing the real-life struggles of US military personnel and Iraqi civilians, but many feel that the game’s features evade that point. Revealed in the gameplay trailer, Six Days in Fallujah has procedurally generated levels, which supposedly work to reflect the soldier’s experience in Fallujah. Real Marines told the developers that in battles, they never knew what was on the other side of any given door. This only sparked more backlash for the game, though, and now a breaking point has been reached.

According to Eurogamer, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent Muslim advocacy group, has called for PlayStation, Xbox and Steam to drop plans to sell Six Days in Fallujah on their respective digital stores. The statement by CAIR said that the “gaming industry must stop dehumanizing Muslims” and that “games like Six Days in Fallujah only serve to glorify violence that took the lives of hundreds of Iraqi civilians.”

In the eyes of many, there are few to no good reasons for Victura or Highwire to revitalize Six Days in Fallujah. After the release of the most recent gameplay trailer, many believe the game is unnecessary. CAIR, however, believes the game is more than unnecessary, arguing it will be damaging to human lives and result in potential hate and violence being directed at Muslims around the world. The game is currently set to release in Q4 2021, but CAIR and other vocal critics may see Six Days in Fallujah abandoned altogether for the second time. It's currently planned to hit PlayStation and Xbox consoles and PC via Steam, but if those platform holders back out, it'd once again spell the end for the controversial end.
While its release is looking more and more unlikely, it’s possible that Six Days in Fallujah will continue to backtrack on its political foundations in a bid to reverse the public opinion. Victura has previously reversed course on the political nature of Six Days in Fallujah, claiming that the game was not trying to make a political commentary before later admitting that it will. The developer and publisher has a lot more work to do before the game is ready for launch, and significant, meaningful changes to its entire premise may be the only thing that allows Six Days in Fallujah to see the light of day.

Six Days in Fallujah will be available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC in Q4 2021.