A game which criticises the smartphone industry has been removed from Apple's AppStore.
Phone Story was developed by Molleindustria and depicts the darker side of smartphone development.
In one level a voiceover explains smartphones' dependence on the mineral coltan which is mined in war torn Congo. During this level the player controls armed soldiers as they force child labourers to mine for the mineral.
In another level the voiceover discusses the high suicide rate at Chinese electronics companies such as Foxconn and how these companies make use of "prevention nets". Meanwhile the player controls a net and attempts to catch workers as they leap off a building.
Apple have cited four violatons of their developer guidelines as reasons for rejecting the game. These are: 15.2, prohibiting depictions of abuse of children; 16.1 prohbiting apps which "present excessively objectionable or crude content" and 21.1 & 21.2 which state that apps which allow users to make donations to charity must be free and that any such donations must be made via SMS or a web browser. Phone Story does not allow users to make donations to charity through the app but Molleindustria has promised to donate any of its earnings from the app tp organisations fighting corporate abuse.
Molleindustria's Paolo Pedercini, speaking to Gamasutra, said: "If you check the guidelines, Phone Story doesn't really violate any rule except for the generic 'excessively objectionable and crude content' and maybe the 'depiction of abuse of children'."
Pedercini discussed the pulling of the game with an Apple employee; "When I asked if I can submit a new version, there was a moment of silence and then he answered, 'Yes, if you can make it compliant to the guidelines.' But the truth is that there is no way to know what's 'excessive' and 'objectionable' in [Apple HQ at] Cupertino."
Pedercini said that he was concerned by the casual acceptance of censorship by Apple: "The unanimous reaction from developers community has been, 'Wow, it's incredible Phone Story made through Apple's review process. To me, this signals a full acceptance of a regime of censorship, the equivalent, for developers, of what journalists call the 'chilling effect'.
"I'm sure that Apple doesn't spend that much time in policing its marketplace, because the developers are already censoring themselves."
