Apple pulls Sweatshop HD from App Store

A game called Sweatshop HD has been pulled from the Apple App Store owing to the sensitive nature of its content.

Pocket Gamer reports that Apple said it was "uncomfortable selling a game based around the theme of running a sweatshop".

The irony, of course, is that Apple itself has acquired a less than inspiring reputation as a sweatshop employer, with horror tales of inhuman work conditions and worker unrest sullying the brand in recent months.

Sweatshop HD is basically a tower defence game that sees players controlling a factory assembling goods for satirical companies such as ‘CryMark’. Costs are saved by ignoring human rights rules.

"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," Littleloud’s head of games Simon Parkin stated.

"Apple specifically cited references in the game to clothing factory managers ‘blocking fire escapes’, ‘increasing work hours for labour’, and issues around the child labour as reasons why the game was unsuitable for sale.

"Littleloud amended the app to clarify that Sweatshop is a work of fiction and was created with the fact-checking input of charity Labor Behind the Label, and to emphasise that the game doesn’t force players to play the game in one way or another. Rather, Sweatshop is a sympathetic examination of the pressures that all participants in the sweatshop system endure."