A CONTROVERSIAL video game set during the Iraq War’s bloodiest battle has come under fresh criticism ahead of its release this year.
A prominent Muslim advocacy group has called on PlayStation and Xbox to ban Six Days in Fallujah, branding the game an “Arab murder simulator”.
The first-person shooter follows US soldiers during an intense battle in 2004 that resulted in the deaths of more than 800 Iraqi civilians.
Dozens of US and British troops were also killed as they cleared heavily entrenched Iraqi insurgents from the city of Fallujah.
Developed by Highware Games, Six Days in Fallujah has repeatedly come under fire over what some see as an attempt to glorify a violent and tragic battle.
In a statement this week, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) dragged the game’s contentious subject matter back into the spotlight again.
CAIR – the largest Muslim civil rights charity in the US – said game would “only normalise violence against Muslims in America and around the world”.
“The gaming industry must stop dehumanising Muslims,” CAIR spokesperson Huzaifa Shahbaz said.
“Video games like Six Days in Fallujah only serve to glorify violence that took the lives of hundreds of Iraqi civilians, justify the Iraq war, and reinforce anti-Muslim sentiment.”
He added that the game will hit shelves “at a time when anti-Muslim bigotry continues to threaten human life”.
Six Days in Fallujah was announced over a decade ago when the wounds of the second Iraq war were still fresh.
Its story and gameplay are based on eye-witness accounts from the harrowing battle, described by the US military as “some of the heaviest urban combat US Marines have been involved in” since 1968.
The game was dropped by developer Konami in 2009 following criticism that it was inappropriate.
However, it re-emerged in February 2021 under developer Highware Games and publisher Victura.
The Second Battle of Fallujah proved extremely controversial in part due to the high number of civilian casualties.
Estimates at the time put the civilian death toll at 800, though the real figure is likely much higher than that.
