The controversial war game Six Days in Fallujah was reportedly in development at Sony’s Santa Monica studio at one point during its lengthy development.
This was mentioned by game designer David Jaffe, who directed the first twoGod of Wargames atSony Santa Monica.
In the most recent episode ofJaffe’s YouTube show, in which he was joined byDays Gonecreative director and writerJohn Garvin, Jaffe asked: “Did you knowSix Days in Fallujahwas actually in development at Sony Santa Monica for a while? Like, we were externally-”
Jaffe was then interrupted by Garvin, who confirmed: “I was at the greenlight meeting.”
“Right,” Jaffe replied. “And any time that game started to really become something that they wanted it to be a real look at war, companies kind of said ‘yeah, thanks but no thanks’.
“So I don’t know what this new one is going to be in terms of, are they gonna get there.”
“It’s a tough one,” Garvin responded, adding: “We’re in a climate where, man, you’re just stepping literally in landmines.”
Six Days in Fallujah was originally scheduled to be published byKonamiover a decade ago, but the publisher pulled out in 2009 due to the controversial nature of the game, which attracted criticism from several quarters including military veterans and anti-war groups.
Finally due for release later this year, the long-in-developmentPCand console game aims to tell the story of the Second Battle of Fallujah, which took place in 2004, from the perspective of the American troops fighting the Iraqi insurgents, as well as members of the city’s civilian population.
Its publisher Victure attracted strong criticism in February after its CEO Peter Tamte claimed in an interview withPolygonthat it was “not trying to make a political commentaryabout whether or not the war itself was a good or a bad idea”.
The studio thenu-turned its stancethe following month, releasing a statement acknowledging that the events of Six Days in Fallujah are “inseparable from politics” and explaining how it is attempting to tell the game’s story from multiple points of view.
