Konami cancels Six Days in Fallujah video game

Japanese game publisher Konami has canceled Six Days in Fallujah, a game based on the Iraq battle that was due next year. Credit: Atomic Games via Konami.

Faced by a storm of criticism from anti-war and pro-military camps alike, Konami has ended its plans to publish Six Days in Fallujah, a video game that re-enacts the Iraq battle of 2004.

"We are no longer doing the title at this time," Anthony Crouts, Konami's vice president of marketing, told The Times today. He did not elaborate. 

Made by Atomic Games, Six Days in Fallujah was being developed with the help of Marines and other soldiers involved in the battle, which the military has said left at least 71 U.S. troops and 1,600 insurgents dead. The game was designed to give players a sense of what it was like to be soldiers in the conflict. As we wrote a few weeks ago when the game was announced:

Today's warriors are more likely to pick up a game controller than a paperback, so it was no surprise that the Marines turned to Atomic Games, a company in Raleigh, N.C., that makes combat simulation software for the military.

"Video games can communicate the intensity and the gravity of war to an audience who wouldn't necessarily be watching the History Channel or reading about this in the classroom," said Mike Ergo, who was in a Marine infantry battalion during the battle in Fallouja and is a consultant on the game.

Despite the active involvement of dozens of Marines in creating the game, critics said that Konami was capitalizing on a war whose wounds were still fresh. Atomic Games President Peter Tamte has not said whether his company would seek another publisher.

-- Alex Pham

Comments

[Dsa]

POOOOOOOOP

[JLA]

I guess these groups are neglecting the fact that there was a little game that came out depicting the events that happened in Haiti....BlackHawk Down...I guess they forgot about that one...

You shouldn't make the distinction of anti-war and pro-military groups, often times people like myself fall into both categories just because I support the troops does not mean I support the use of them by our leaders.

[Dark 5cythe]

this is disgraceful that a company would bow down to censorship by a few people. You can never please everyone. Someone will always be offended. You cant stop thinking or saying or doing things because someone will be offended. If they dont like the game, they dont have to buy it.

No one cancels movies because they offended people.

[Bob]

@DSA:
Perhaps you should brush up on your history because 'Black Hawk Down' did not occur in Haiti.

[This is Stupid.]

What, really?
Are you freaking serious?
Thanks to those offended for destroying one of the only portals in which others may use to come to understand why you are offended by it.
Thanks for destroying potential knowledge.

[XD]

Konami should never back down to censorship by a vocal minority. The people who are protesting would have never bought the game to begin with and probably don't play video games.

[micah]

i was in third battalion forth marines and was there. boo hoo to you a**holes who need to cry about this. i would play it. Does anyone remember why we went in? ........................................ the answer?........................ the slaughtered americans who were killed by insergents and bodies hung from the bridged after they where burn and while civilians/insergents filled this! then aired it proudly on algazera

[JX]

This game gets canceled due to bad publicity, but I can walk into any store that sells video games and buy a war-based game that takes place during Vietnam, WW2 (and dear lord are there A LOT of WW2 games...), and numerous other wars?

Uhh....

[Why?]

I guess my question is why pull one game that is supported by many of the people who actually fought in the battle and shared their own stories, videos, pictures, ect. Seems that it is no big deal to have games like Call Of Duty depicting a war where millions of men lost their lives. Is it only ok becase it was 60 plus years ago or just the simple fact that people stood behind troops and supported them to or the fact that many of the men that fought in WWII are gone now. Fact of the matter is many people do not agree with the war so why not bitch about everything that comes of it. Now ive also heard people upset that the game would profit from a war where people are still dying. So my question to everyone would be that of in time after everything is said and done would it be ok to make a game understanding what americans have gone through just like the men before us in the WWII world of games like Call Of Duty. I see no difference. Like anything else if you dont like it dont buy it or read about it.

[Joel]

I guess it's better if we all just stick our heads in the sand and pretend the Iraq war never happened..

[Van H. Nguyen]

I was really looking forward to this product. If any company could bring about a well made depiction of the horrors of combat, it would have been Konami.

The people who are against the game are saying that it isn't good that Konami is making a product that profits off of this event and that it isn't in good taste and ill timed.

From serviceman, opinions are mixed, some citing that it's not such a good idea. Others believe it's great. The serviceman who are working on the game must have thought it was a fair way to show the events.

I do believe that the intentions of the producers was to give the events a good shake in a format that is not traditionally a documentary format. It is sad that we may have to wait much longer, if it even comes out at all.

Maybe with luck, it's just been put on the back burner and we'll see it sometime in the next decade.

[kurse]

looks like it would of been a sweet game. guess its the same people who had over there taken off of fx. damn people dont get your panties in a bunch. if you dont like it dont buy it or watch it!

[Zion]

They should just re-name the game and claim it takes place in another area. Who would know the difference? The game was supposed to focus more on the characters and brotherhood than the politics.

The guy who mentioned the Black Hawk Down games made a good point, minus the wrong location. Those who are against it shouldnt buy it, let the invisible hand of the economy handle it.

If this game did come out it would obviously be rated M. But still a few immature kids and adults will get there hands on it and do terrible things. A soldier suffering from PTSD commited suicide after playing COD4 but it was a rare incident.

As a history major, if I played this game it would help me understand what is like to be there. I was excited about this game and those who want it published should be more vocal than those agaisnt it.

[jordan]

i was really looking forward to this game and now its not coming out!
that sucks!

[Josh]

I think that people are just 2 up tight about the Iraq war... but i have 1 thing 2 say why let Conflict Desert Storm be made and released that was about the war in Iraq but it was not as informative and as many others have said it would help many people understand the actual events of this war and lets face it... this would be one hell of a game. I believe that if the American soldiers ( I say American as i am Canadian) are fine with the production of this game then Konami should go through with it... And considering the troops are helping 2 make the game I would say they have no objections

[hugh]

What gets me is that they will publish a title like Grand Theft Auto 1, 2, x, x, or whatever and that's okay. Publish something like this though, and everyone gets in on it. :(

[Konami Messed Up]

This would have been a great game for sure. Big pity that its been dropped for now though.
Maybe they were having issues with how the game would finish, seeing as how there were no WMD's :)

[Matt]

People get offended way too easily now days. I think the people who are complaining about this just want one more thing to complain about. It is too bad that the complainers in this country have louder voices than the people who just live their lives in peace. I am so sick of PC. It is destroying this nation.

[SuKIT23]

ITS A GAME
realy, wats the worst that can happen from releasing it
plus it would make tuns of money cuz of all that happening sothey should definatly go to another publisher cuz i wana play this game

[Orc]

Hmm I think it is a good idea that they did not publish it...

It might provoke some violence and promote it... at least on a political level...

What they should do is, change the graphics and the units and make an entirely different game whilst having the similar story etc... Take a look at C&C Generals... They have USA, China and GLA ;)

But also balancing the sides would be nice and not getting political with the games as i hate when some games are made to promote one side and demote other :(

[SSG Bo]

Pro-military groups? what pro military groups? I am in the military. I'm a paratrooper, was in fallujah in 2004, kurdistan 2005, baghdad 2007, and I'm heading back to fallujah in a... little while... I fought alonside Marines in fallujah and baghdad, i'll see them again soon... we all played video games and are honored by being the topic of video games like call of duty, medal of honor, etc. Who else tells our story? How else is someone even supposed to know what our lives are like? The media? At least the makers of these games ask for our input when they make these games. They focus on telling our story. I've never met a soldier or Marine that was offended by being glorified in a video game. The same people that bitch about stuff like this are the ones who will forget about what happened in places like Ramadi, Fallujah, and Baghdad... but talk about profiting about the dead, guess who won't forget about the deaths in Fallujah? the ones that play this game... we are going to be the ones to play this game anyway!

[Istand4nuthin]

Um, it was Somalia, not Haiti. Wow.

[William]

This is a real tragedy that a group of people that have never been in combat would speak for me. I am a veteran of Operation Al-Fajr- The Battle of Fallujah in 2004 and I was looking forward for this game to come out so people would have some type of first hand experience of what my friend and I went through. It really upsets me that a bunch of people that "Support the Troops" and those anti-war liberals that are speaking in my behalf when I did not ask any of them to speak for me. I think it should be up to the veterans that fought in that battle to decide whether or not to publish the game.

[Ulises]

They shouldn't have cancelled the game the game sounded great and we can have a idea of what is like to be in a war or what happens on it but whatever atleast just cancel the name but not the game please games in this days suck!