Not to be outdone by Sony Pictures, Apple has stepped up to North Korea to reverse its decision to block Little Dictator, a mobile parody game that depicts the supreme leader Kim Jong-un riding a nuclear missile. The game will now be available to install from the App Store. It has been available for Android since Feb. 9.
Earlier this month, Apple ruled to block the game after claiming that it violated the company’s app review policy. According to Apple’s App Store guideline 14.1, “Any App that is defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited or likely to place the targeted individual or group in harm’s way will be rejected.” Little Dictator was cited as too provocative amid the controversy surrounding the release of the movie The Interview.
Developer Built Games argued that the game was never made to be mean-spirited but was rather a harmless spoof following the situation regarding censorship during the debacle at Sony. A comedic clone rather than a testament of authorship, the game re-images the tap motion touch screen schematics of Flappy Bird with Kim Jong-un replacing the bird as the playable character. Players dodge other missiles by tapping the screen and squeezing between the targets. Explaining the rationality behind the concept, Built Games approached the controversy with ease:
“In the infinitely unlikely event that the missile explodes before it reaches the evil west, more missiles will be supplied to try again and again… and again and again! Not to worry, Kim Jong-un possesses the hearts of his father and grandfather giving him ultimate endurance and strength to withstand any small mishaps along the way… very few of course!”
If you ask us, Apple got lost in the craziness that has unraveled over the last few months. Although their initial decision to ban the game was rash, we don’t see them doing it again anytime soon. From the looks of the trailer, the game was made all in good fun.
The trailer for Little Dictator can be viewed above.