Overnight, Apple has pulled down a controversial game from its App Store which encouraged users to ‘fight the aboriginals’ and beat them to death with stone axes.
New Matilda reported the news of Survival Island 3 – Australia Story 3D – shortly after 9pm last night. By 8am this morning, the game was no longer available for download.
A petition demanding the App be removed went from 52 signatures last night, to more than 20,000 this morning. The game has also featured on morning television news programs.
Apple had rated the game as PG, for kids aged 12+. The capacity to bludgeon to death a ‘virtual Aborigine’ earned itself a warning of “Infrequent/Mild Realistic violence”.
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The game is, however, still available via Google Play, for Android phones.*
The developer, Kristina Fedenkova, has not responded to correspondence from New Matilda overnight, and nor has Apple.
The game was released in the iTunes store on December 15, and retailed for $4.49. It was also available on Google Play and for Android phones.
The theme of the game was to survive in Australia, by hunting and building a home. The developer explains, “Your goal is to survive. Beware of angry animals, especially if you don’t have any weapon. At nights, there is really dangerous, (sic) try to hide somewhere…. Hunt animals or grow plants – you have to eat something. You also have to fight with aboriginals (sic) – you invaded their home!”
One of the screencaps promoting the game on the Apple iTunes store includes a screamer across the page which reads, ‘Beware of Aborigines!’
Also puled down overnight was a series of five Youtube videos, which gave people a walk-through of the game.
A Youtube account holder calling himself ‘R2Darksaber’ noted he was “searching for the natives” before beating to death an Aboriginal man to death with stone axe. He then asked “OK, what do we get?” when a screen pops up to reveal the loot he wins as a result of the killing.
New Matilda is still awaiting comment from both Apple and the developer, in particular on how the game managed to get approved for the iTunes store.
* UPDATE: It’s now no longer available on Google Play, as of 12:45pm.
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