Apple Yanks "Sweatshop Themed" Game From App Store

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Apple Yanks "Sweatshop Themed" Game From App Store

Posted by timothy on Thursday March 21, 2013 @03:15AM from the games-should-be-cute dept.

First time accepted submitter danhuby writes "Apple have removed sweatshop-themed game Sweatshop HD by UK developers LittleLoud from their app store citing clause 16.1 — 'Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected.' According to the PocketGamer article, Littleloud's head of games, Simon Parkin, told Pocket Gamer that 'Apple removed Sweatshop from the App Store last month stating that it was uncomfortable selling a game based around the theme of running a sweatshop.'"

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Apple by bradgoodman · 2013-03-21 03:20 · Score: 5, Funny

What, so only APPLE is allowed to run a sweatshop?
1. Re:Apple by _xeno_ · 2013-03-21 03:39 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  What, so only APPLE is allowed to run a sweatshop?
  No, no, no. Apple doesn't run any sweatshops.
  They contract that out. That way, they can be shocked - shocked! - to learn that their third party contractors are running sweatshops and hiring children. Plus they can "drop" the manufacturers who hire children, just to rehire them under a different name when people stop paying attention.
  Plus, Apple's contractors have the best suicide-prevention nets in the industry! Who needs "livable working conditions" when you have suicide prevention nets?
  
  --
  You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
Re:Game Dev Story by Nerdfest · 2013-03-21 03:21 · Score: 5, Insightful

It was probably fine until someone noticed that it was very much like a Foxconn facility. The "objectionable" in their approval terms is pretty loose and doesn't mention who the app has to be "objectionable" to.
The definition of PC by LordKaT · 2013-03-21 03:22 · Score: 5, Insightful

If it makes you feel uncomfortable, force people to stop talking about it. The definition of political correctness!
Thinking??? by Carnivore24 · 2013-03-21 03:22 · Score: 5, Funny

"challenged people to think about the origin of the clothes we buy" Challenging people to think is one of the main things an Apple user is not allowed to do. Makes sense if you think about it.
Typical by Anonymous Coward · 2013-03-21 03:41 · Score: 5, Insightful

Kill hundreds of thousands of virtual people in videogames? No prob! Force them to work in a sweatshop? That makes me a little uncomfortable.
Walled Garden by stevegee58 · 2013-03-21 03:42 · Score: 5, Insightful

Welcome to the walled garden where everything is beautiful inside and you're protected from the ugly outside world (by the gardener's definition).
Too close to home. by Culture20 · 2013-03-21 03:49 · Score: 5, Insightful

Seriously, a game called "5 minutes to kill yourself" (and the wedding day edition) is okay, but a game where you run a sweatshop isn't? I'm guessing the top tier goal of the sweatshop game had the workers building iGlasses for an unnamed American corporation.
Confidential guidelines by tepples · 2013-03-21 04:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

A leaked version of the App Store Review Guidelines already contains a ban on realistic violence.
But the real problem with the App Store Review Guidelines is that they're confidential, intended only for current developers, not for prospective developers. Say someone has been developing applications for PCs and Android devices as a hobby, and he wants to try developing a few applications for the iPhone or iPad. Before he spends over $1,000 on a Mac, an iPad, and a developer license, how can he be sure that Apple won't reject his applications' concepts?
Simply rename the App! by HycoWhit · 2013-03-21 04:39 · Score: 5, Funny

Sweatshop HD is such a crude and offensive name. The game simply needs to be renamed: Foxconn Fun or iFactory, maybe Making Apples...
Re:Game Dev Story by mabhatter654 · 2013-03-21 04:39 · Score: 5, Funny

But then its competing directly with an Apple "product".