Video Game Depicting School Massacre Removed After Online Uproar
“Pakistan Army Retribution" was in "poor taste," government now says.
LONDON— -- A video game based on the Taliban’s 2014 massacre of a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, which killed scores of children, has been removed from Google Play following an online uproar.
Named the “Pakistan Army Retribution,” the game enabled players to impersonate Pakistani soldiers and kill armed terrorists. While the aim was to honor Pakistani soldiers who died in the attacks, criticisms began flowing online shortly after its release by a government digital agency called the Punjab Information Technology Board.
One Twitter user described the initiative as "shameful," while reviewers at Pakistani newspaper Dawn wrote that, "No one, especially families of the victims, would ever want to re-live that dark day.”
Gunman entered the school on Dec. 16, 2014, and opened fire on staff and children, killing a total of 148 people.
The chairman of the Punjab IT Board, Umar Saif, confirmed that the agency had removed the game from the Google Play store.
Google Play, which serves content for Android devices, notes that it is no longer available.
"It was in poor taste," Saif wrote on Twitter. "Thank you for highlighting this mistake. We have made the amends."
Another Twitter user praised the decision to pull the app while adding that "poor decision making at the highest level needs to be answered."