Victura, the publisher behind Highwire Games’ controversially revived game project Six Days in Fallujah, has issued a statement saying that the game, which is based on the real Iraq War conflict from 17 years ago, is “inseparable from politics.”
That’s a sizable shift from what Victura CEO Peter Tamte told Polygon last month about the studio’s desire to not “make a political commentary about whether or not the war itself was a bad idea.” At the time, that statement only threw fuel on the fire that sprung up out of the project’s revival, and it now seems Victura is looking to reposition itself in the public eye.
The statement published to Twitter today aims to explain how politics are woven throughout Highwire’s Six Days in Fallujah, arguing that “the game gives a voice to a variety of perspectives” including Marines, Soldiers, and Iraqi civilians (despite Tamte’s comments to GamesIndustry.biz last month that “very few people are curious” about the experiences of those Iraqi civilians).
“The stories in Six Days in Fallujah are told through gameplay and documentary footage featuring service members and civilians with diverse experiences and opinions about the Iraq War,” reads the statement. “So far, 26 Iraqi civilians and dozens of service members have shared the most difficult moments of their lives with us, so we can share them with you, in their words.”
It notes that, similarly to the 2009 attempt at Six Days in Fallujah, the game features a number of documentary segments that touch on “many tough topics, including the events and political decisions that led to the Fallujah battles as well as their aftermath.”
“During gameplay players will participate in stories that are given context through the documentary segments,” continues the statement. “Each mission challenges players to solve real military and civilian scenarios from the battle interactively, offering a perspective into urban warfare not possible through any other media. We believe the stories of this generation’s sacrifices deserve to be told by the Marines, Soldiers and civilians who were there. We trust you will find the game — like the events it recreates — to be complex.”
The statement follows a string of poorly received comments made by Tamte in the single month since the game’s announcement, some of which are linked above, and seemingly aims to shift the negative opinions many people appear to have already formed about the understandingly controversial game. It’s worth noting here as well the original iteration of Six Days in Fallujah back in 2009 was met with a similar caliber of criticism for its controversial subject matter, before eventually being dropped by then-publisher Konami within weeks of its announcement over the reaction to its reveal.