LOS ANGELES (AP) – An educational video game has been edited following a social media backlash over a scene depicting slaves being packed into a ship.
The creators of “Playing History: Slave Trade” removed a level Monday which featured black slave characters being dropped into a ship similar to the video game “Tetris.”
“Apologies to people who were offended by us using game mechanics to underline the point of how inhumane slavery was,” read a statement posted on the game’s page on Steam, an online store. “The goal was to enlighten and educate people – not to get sidetracked discussing a small 15-second part of the game.”
The scene was also removed from the official trailer for the title, which was originally released by Copenhagen-based developer Serious Games Interactive in 2013.
The game captured attention last week when it went on sale on Steam and was promptly chastised on social media for trivializing slavery with the stacking segment. Serious Games founder Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen took to Twitter to defend “Slave Trade” against the controversy before deleting his account Tuesday. He could not be immediately reached for comment.