Konami Cancels Six Days in Fallujah

Kris Erickson • Apr 27, 2009 • Comments ()

After angry protests from just about every group imaginable, Konami has decided to cancel its plans to publish a game based on one of the bloodiest battles of the Iraq War. According to the developers at Atomic Games, this shooter would have featured action from the 2004 invasion of Iraq, and followed a group of Marines as they fought their way through the besieged city.

There were many problems with Six Days in Fallujah, including the still-recent nature of the conflict and the fact that the title was being billed as a form of "entertainment". The public relations team at Atomic and Konami never quite got their story straight with this game, sometimes billing it as a "dramatic documentary" and other times stating that people should not be offended because it was simply entertainment and "just a game".

Reactions to the game included complaints from U.S. based veterans groups and global peace advocates. One side wasn't happy that the game might portray American troops in less-than-flattering circumstances, while others were concerned that the game would trivialize war. We are not quite sure what Konami was thinking by putting their name alongside such a mis-conceived video game, but luckily someone in the company had the sense to avoid releasing this title.

In case there was anybody actually looking forward to this title, the game will likely still be published -- just not by a global entertainment company.