Six Days in Fallujah’s creators are ready to release and defend the controversial shooter – Polygon (2023)

TITLE
Six Days in Fallujah’s creators are ready to release and defend the controversial shooter

AUTHOR
Matt Paprocki

PUBLICATION
Polygon

YEAR
2023

ARTICLE TYPE
Article

FROM THE ARTICLE
In 2009, Six Days in Fallujah, a video game based on real urban combat between American Marines and Iraqis between April and May of 2004, was canceled. The shooter had withered under negative media attention, eventually losing the support of its publisher.

Now, more than a decade later, Six Days in Fallujah is back under the banner of first-time publisher Victura — and so is the controversy. But in the intervening years, the tenor and scope of the debate around it has changed considerably. In 2009, the game’s most vocal critics were upset by the idea of representing a still-raw historical moment in a video game. Today’s critiques, by contrast, revolve around a decade of revelations about the specifics of that historical moment and whether Six Days can fairly represent both sides.

COMPANIES MENTIONED
Victura

GAMES MENTIONED
Six Days in Fallujah