Phone Story dev criticises App Store "regime of censorship"

September 14th, 2011, 23:29 Posted By: wraggster

The latest game from indie developer Molleindustria was pulled from the App Store on Tuesday, just hours after its official announcement.
Molleindustria has a reputation for tackling controversial themes, including big oil in Oligarchy, and child abuse in the Catholic Church in Operation Pedopriest.
Phone Story is a satirical mini-game collection themed around the human and environmental cost of the explosion in smartphone production.
The 99c app includes games based on a string of suicides at a factory operated by Foxconn in Shenzhen, China, and the social and political upheaval surrounding the mining of coltan in the Congo - a mineral widely used in smartphone production.
In both cases, the events on-screen are accompanied by a voiceover explaining the reality of the issue. Molleindustria pledged to donate all proceeds from the game to organisations that fight corporate abuses and seek to improve working conditions.
A post on Molleindustria's website explains that Phone Story breached four App Store guidelines:

• 15.2: Apps that depict violence or abuse of children will be rejected
• 16.1: Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected
• 21.1: Apps that include the ability to make donations to recognized charitable organizations must be free
• 21.2: The collection of donations must be done via a web site in Safari or an SMS

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