Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has blocked the Binding of Isaac from its App Store. In a statement, the company said that the game will not be allowed in its store because the game uses violence against children in its plot.
The Binding of Isaac is an interesting game which is based on the Biblical story of Isaac. In the bible, Isaac is faced with the prospect of being sacrificed by his own father following a divine command that is given to his father. In the game, the main character is a boy named Isaac. The boy is trapped in a dungeon by his own mothers.
Users are expected to take on the identity of Isaac and attempt to escape from the dungeon. The path of escaping from the dungeon is ridden with monsters and other forms of danger. Therefore, users have to carefully guide Isaac out of the dungeon by avoiding all the dangers that lie in wait for him inside the dungeon.
According to Tyrone Rodriguez, the person who developed the game, the action by Apple is a disappointment of the gaming community. He says that the reason that the company gave for rejecting his game was hypocritical in that there are already different applications on iTunes that show a high level of violence against children.
Edmund McMillen, a developer who played a significant role in the development of the Binding of Isaac, says that the rejection of the game by Apple is proof of the manner in which the company treats games. He says that Apple does not consider games as an important component of the products that it makes available to users on its platforms. This is the reason as to why, compared to music and books, games are not given a priority on Apple’s App Store.
But the Binding of Isaac is not the only game that Apple has rejected in the recent past. The company rejected a game called Endgame: Syria from its store recently. The game was developed by the story of the Syrian conflict. Similarly, the company rejected a game called HappyPlayTime. The game was based on providing sexual education to girls by encouraging them to explore their sexuality.
However, developers and gaming enthusiasts have criticized the actions of the company by arguing that as much as the company rejects some games, its iOS games are full of themes that the company says it sees in the games that it rejects.
