Six Days in Fallujah is a controversial upcoming game about the Second Battle of Fallujah, which took place in 2004 during the Iraq War. A number of game developers, community members, and even an Iraq War veteran have gone on the record recently with their concerns.
The battle that Six Days in Fallujah is meant to depict, the Second Battle of Fallujah, is mired in controversy. During the battle, hundreds of Iraqi civilians, as well as around 100 US and British troops, lost their lives. There were also accusations that the US military used white phosphorous against civilians. The game was originally announced back in 2009, developed by Atomic Games and published by Konami, but controversies surrounding it then caused the publisher to drop it.
In 2016 the former CEO of Atomic Games, Peter Tamte, formed a new studio called Victura to continue development on the game for a 2021 release. It’s worth noting that before working at on the original Six Days in Fallujah, Tamte’s company used to make military training simulators for the CIA and FBI.
Among those who spoke about the game to IGN, both on the record and anonymously, there was skepticism that the game would be a respectful and fair depiction of the battle. The developer has made clear it doesn’t think the game needs to portray the atrocities that occurred. That made Lee Hammoud, a Lebanese-Arab game developer who spoke to IGN, wonder “How are you going to depict it? Are you going to depict it in a way where it’s just exactly how it happened? Are you trying to raise awareness about what happened? Are you trying not to make a heroic story out of it? What are you trying to do exactly? If what you’re trying to do is just to describe the battle in the heroic cinematic dramatic way… that’s just going to make it worse.”
While its developer initially maintained the game wasn’t political, it later released a statement claiming that Six Days in Fallujah is “inseparable from politics.” Even so, games often glorify their subjects, and just because developers are accepting their game is inherently political doesn’t mean they’re necessarily going to do the critical analysis needed to portray the events respectfully and accurately. John Phipps, a veteran who was involved in the Second Battle of Fallujah, told IGN: “There is a massive unwillingness on the part of American media, no matter what form of media it is, to portray US soldiers as the antagonists or the bad guys, which, in that instance, we were.”
When talking about Six Days in Fallujah, another Lebanese-Arab game developer named Alex asked, “What is the underlying message? What is this trying to sell me under the guise of empathy?” If the developers fail to critically examine their role in portraying the battle, or consciously make the decision to glorify the US military, Six Days in Fallujah may become little more than propaganda or a tool to recruit young people to the military. Given Tamte’s history and how the game looks so far, detractors might be right to express pessimism about it now.
Six Days in Fallujah is expected to release late 2021 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: IGN
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