After 18 years, controversial shooter Six Days in Fallujah is finally releasing
Development of «realistic first-person tactical shooter» Six Days in Fallujah began all the way back in 2005, less than a year after the actual Iraq War battle it's based on. On June 22, it will finally release in early access on Steam.
Six Days in Fallujah was originally going to be published by Konami, but in 2009, the company abandoned the game following outcry over its subject matter. Call of Duty was also being criticized at the time for turning contemporary military adventurism into entertainment, but got by with its over-the-top fictional thriller plots. For many, basing a videogame directly on a recent battle in which thousands were killed or wounded went too far: Six Days was seen as tasteless at best, grotesque propaganda at worst.
At the time, developer Atomic Games said that Six Days was a kind of documentary: «For us, games are not just toys. If you look at how music, television and films have made sense of the complex issues of their times, it makes sense to do that with videogames,» studio president Peter Tamte told The Wall Street Journal in 2009. But a comment from Konami suggested that Six Days was essentially entertainment, and even that it had no political message.
«We're not trying to make social commentary,» Konami told WSJ in the same article. «We're not pro-war. We're not trying to make people feel uncomfortable. We just want to bring a compelling entertainment experience. At the end of the day, it's just a game.»
Skeptics were not convinced that Six Days was somehow going to deliver a neutral, comfortable, but compelling depiction of the battle, and some accused it not only of being vulgar, but also a pro-US puff piece designed to garner sympathy for an unpopular war. Six Days had supporters,
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