Victura and Highwire Games announced their upcoming highly controversial first-person tactical shooter, Six Days in Fallujah will release on June 22, 2023, through Steam’s Early Access program.
Six Days in Fallujah is a highly realistic first-person tactical shooter developed with help from more than 100 Marines and Soldiers who served in the Second Battle of Fallujah, as well as more than two dozen Iraqi civilians and soldiers. Based on true stories from the battle, Six Days requires players to overcome real-world scenarios with their fire team by using real-life military tactics. The game will launch with four co-operative four-player missions. These missions are set in urban maps that are generated procedurally every time the game is played to recreate the uncertainty of combat along with unlimited replayability.
“The way we play video games right now is not how people fight in real life,” says Sgt. Eddie Garcia, a Marine who was wounded during the Second Battle of Fallujah. “Six Days in Fallujah requires tactics and teamwork that are more like real combat than any other game I’ve played.”
What was the controversy?
The game is based on the Second Battle of Fallujah, one of the bloodiest and most intense battles of the Iraq War. The battle resulted in significant civilian casualties and raised concerns about the ethics of recreating real-world events in a video game. At the time of the game’s original announcement in 2009, the Iraq War was still ongoing, and many viewed the game as exploiting a recent and sensitive conflict for entertainment purposes.
There were concerns that the game could potentially present a biased or one-sided perspective on the events, given that it was developed with input from U.S. Marines who were involved in the battle. Critics argued that the game could serve as a propaganda tool or glorify war.
Some individuals, including veterans, expressed concerns that the game could be distressing for those who experienced the battle or lost loved ones during the conflict. They questioned the appropriateness of turning a tragic and traumatic event into entertainment.
Due to these controversies and public backlash, Konami, the original publisher, decided to halt the game’s development shortly after its announcement in 2009.
