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Six Days in Fallujah dev hasn't given up

Published on 29th April 2009 by Joe Martin

Atomic Games says it was surprised that Konami withdrew from publishing Six Days in Fallujah (pictured).

Atomic Games has said that it was very much surprised by Konami's decision to withdraw from publishing Six Days in Fallujah, but that it is still very optimistic for the future of the project.

The game, which is based on the stories of marines who were present at the Battle of Fallujah, was unexpectedly dropped by publisher Konami earlier this week - leaving Atomic Games apparently without a route to market. Konami claimed that it had abandoned the game after a massive negative reaction to the game in the US (the only territory for which it had been announced).

Critical reaction based on previews of the game had been poor in some cases too, with some American journalists saying that although the game claimed to be realistic and true to the events it was in actual fact little more than a Gears of War clone - something which bordered on irresponsible in the eyes of some. The issues of civilian casualties were also apparently not presented in the game, despite the specific importance of the topic when it comes to the Battle of Fallujah.

Despite the reaction of press and consumers though, Atomic Games told Develop that it was very surprised when Konami dropped the game and that the developer had only been informed of the fact a few days before.

Atomic President Peter Tamte said that the team was still very optimistic for the project though and that the company still hoped to finish the game, though he fell short of saying whether development was still on-going or not. If the team cannot find a new publisher though then the only hope for the game would be for Atomic to risk self-publishing.

What's your opinion on the topic of real and current wars being presented in computer games? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

7 Comments

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Gunsmith 29th April 2009, 12:57

make it a pc game and id buy it, its not like Political Correctness has tried to stop the pc industry before.

UrbanMarine 29th April 2009, 13:36

It will never be realistic. If the Marines (7MR & 1MR) that were there approve the game, the REMF journalists can piss off.

leexgx 29th April 2009, 16:40

thay could allways push it onto steam no risk with shops then

fodder 29th April 2009, 16:46

Survey the marines that were there, if they support it then publish if not then don't. Steam would be the obvious route here, no pc brigade protesters picketing retail outlets then.

Turbotab 29th April 2009, 17:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by fodder
Survey the marines that were there, if they support it then publish if not then don't. Steam would be the obvious route here, no pc brigade protesters picketing retail outlets then.

Soldiers fought to uphold democracy, not to dictate it. If the game is not true to the events of the Battle of Fallujah, then it should not try to leverage its name for publicity purposes. Whether the game is good enough to stand on its own merit, should determine if they release it.

knyghtryda 29th April 2009, 22:15

Alright... so tell me something... why is this game so bad, but a game could be made based on the events in of Blackhawk Down in the MID 90's (not exactly ancient history...)? Is it cuz the movie that was made somehow made it "alright" to talk about? I think the game should be made, protesters be damned. The uproar will fuel sales, and if the game is actually good, it will win on its merits alone. This double standard of decency between games and other media really needs to be brought to the front on this discussion. Hell, why were they allowed to make a flight 93 movie so soon after it happened? What the hell happened to the PC police then?

CardJoe 30th April 2009, 10:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by knyghtryda
Alright... so tell me something... why is this game so bad, but a game could be made based on the events in of Blackhawk Down in the MID 90's (not exactly ancient history...)? Is it cuz the movie that was made somehow made it "alright" to talk about? I think the game should be made, protesters be damned. The uproar will fuel sales, and if the game is actually good, it will win on its merits alone. This double standard of decency between games and other media really needs to be brought to the front on this discussion. Hell, why were they allowed to make a flight 93 movie so soon after it happened? What the hell happened to the PC police then?

I think it's more to do with the fact that the Battle of Fallujah was such a recent event and had such controversial elements to it in terms of child and civillian casualties rather than the involvement of Ridley Scott. I also don't remember the Black Hawk Down game claiming to be directly based on soldier testimonies. It was based on the film that was itself loosely based on that type of thing...so it was quite detatched.