After three submission on the App Store, and being released already both on Android and PC, Endgame: Syria is finally available on iOS devices. The catch? They just had to remove all references to the country of Syria and the conflicting forces there-in.
Developer Tomas Rawlings of 'Game the News' explains the situation in this quote:
"We've come to the end of three rejections and one appeal and the only way we've been able to get Endgame:Syria out on iOS was to remove all references to the real world and sadly that changes it from a 'newsgame' into just a 'game'. We've released this game version so at least players with Apple devices can get a feel for what we originally intended for the platform. We are of course disappointed to not be able to release the game and hope that our experience informs a wider debate about how games have matured into a form that would benefit from a reappraisal by some."
The game available on the App Store now is titled Endgame: Eurasia in a snide nod to the classic George Orwell novel 1984, and is most likely a dig at Apple. Hopefully as Tomas says, this exposure of the App Store's reluctance to accept games that comment on current events will encourage discussion. This is just a small part of a larger debate in the game community of the merit of games as education / informative tools as opposed to just entertainment. In my opinion there is no reason why they cannot be both, but those that only believe in the medium's ability to entertain are quite vocal. At least this game is available to be played, both in its censored and non-censored states.
