In 2009, developers Atomic Games and publishers announced Konami Six Days In Fallujah, a third-person shooter based on a real battle five years before the then-war in Iraq. It was controversial for several reasons, enough that Konami soon abandoned the game and Atomic eventually scrapped it. Well, it’s coming back. Kinda. A ‘brand new’ Six Days In Fallujah was announced today, now an FPS produced and published by various companies. Huh. Preview is below.
As before, the game is based on part of Fallujah’s Second Battle in 2004, with the announcement today that it ‘recreates true stories of marines, soldiers and Iraqi civilians who fought al-Qaeda’. It says players will “lead a firework through real-life encounters made possible by unique technology that simulates the uncertainty and tactics of urban fighting.”
It adds: “More than 100 Marines, soldiers and Iraqi civilians present during the Second Battle of Fallujah shared their personal stories, photos and video recordings with the development team.” Aside from the fact that it forms the game, they say that some will be present as documentary discussions.
This time, SDIF is being published by Victura, the new company of Peter Tamte, former Atomic CEO, and so there is a connection. The developers are now Highware Games, a studio featuring several former Bungie people, including composer Marty O’Donnell and designer Jaime Griesemer. It is quite strange to see this return like this after so many years. The SDIF website has a page titled simply WHY.
It says that “just because this war was controversial does not mean it was not filled with remarkable stories of sacrifice and courage. However, it did prevent many of these stories from being told.” It blames the death in the original of people who ‘believe that video games should not tackle real-life events’ and who think ‘video games look more like toys than a medium that can communicate something informative.’
Blue media like the Daily Mail and Fox News have certainly sparked controversy, suggesting it was an insult to the memories of soldiers who died. I think that’s a big part of why Konami abandoned it. On the other hand, it was controversial for others because they made a video game about the attackers in a war that was going on, that used misinformation, jingoism and Islamophobia to justify invasion, murder, torture and war crimes. And some criticism was not doubt in video games as a medium, just as much doubt in this particular game.
At all the talk of authenticity, a demo shown to create purple did not impress. My former Shacknews colleague Nick Breckon (hello Nick!) Reported seeing soldiers who rained explosives like Rambo and picked up bullets by regenerating in the cover like Marcus Fenix. If it was an important story to tell, the demo does not seem to do it in a way that does not suggest that the war was cool either. It certainly did not help that Konami tried to divert controversy by saying “At the end of the day, it’s just a game.” Konami dropped the game three weeks later.
For what it’s worth, former SDIF developer Nathan Cheever recounts his experiences working on it in 2018. He thinks the game is misunderstood by the media. He then became the leading world designer of Mafia 3, a game that did not deter the racism with which a black veteran returning from the war in Vietnam.
I know that video games can handle complicated and sensitive events in real work. I’m skeptical that this particular one will pick it up.
Six Days In Fallujah will be launched in 2021 on computers and consoles. Maybe this time really.