Apple reverses decision and approves controversial game ‘Liyla and The Shadows of War’

It’s generally a murky process trying to get politically or culturally charged content up on Apple’s App Store. They tend to shy away from controversial topics or subject matters. A recent example is Liyla and The Shadows of War, which follows the story of a young Palestinian girl living in the Gaza Strip while the conflict in Israel is ongoing. Apple initially rejected it saying it “is not appropriate in the Games category.” Palestinian developer and Liyla creator Rasheed Abueideh shared the text he got from Apple where part of the message also says, “It would be more appropriate to categorize your app in News or Reference for example.” Apple was both unwilling to permit the developer’s message to come out and they even didn’t want it to be considered a game. 

But it seems backlash from the rejection was enough to get Apple’s attention as well as to reconsider putting the game up of the App Store. It’s up on both iOS and Android now.

Source: The Verge