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Developer of Trayvon Martin revenge-fantasy game pulls app from Google Play, iTunes

Trayvon Martin George Zimerman

Trade Digital's controversial Angry Trayvon game.

Image Credit: Trade Digital

A controversial video game was voluntarily pulled from the iTunes and Google Play app stores following an outcry from the public, according to Salon.

Developer Trade Digital produced a simple game called Angry Trayvon for Android and iOS that has a hoodie-wearing teenager taking to the streets to get “revenge on the bad guys who terrorize cities every day,” according to the game’s story intro. Check out Fast Company playing Angry Trayvon before it was pulled. The game is clearly based on 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed on Feb. 26, 2012. His accused murderer, George Zimmerman, is on trial now. He claims his actions were in self-defense.

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Angry Trayvon shocked people who believe the game trivializes the death of Martin. Upset supporters of Martin took to Twitter, Facebook, and Change.org to petition Google and Apple to remove the game.

“The death of this young man is not a game,” T.L. Rowe wrote in his petition on Change.org. “This developer is using the Google Marketplace to exploit the death of an unarmed teen for profit while simultaneously promoting violence.”

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In response to the outcry, Trade Digital announced that it is removing the game voluntarily.

“The people spoke out, therefore this game was removed from the app stores,” a spokesperson for the developer wrote on its Facebook page (which it has since deleted). “Sorry for the inconvenience, as this was just an action game for entertainment. This was by no means a racist game. Nonetheless, it was removed as will this page and anything associated with the game will be removed.”

Angry Trayvon is a basic action game that has players walking the streets and beating up bad guys. It isn’t the first mobile game to stir up a controversy.

In March, Apple dropped Sweatshop HD, which is an action title that mocks the conditions in sweatshops around the world. Apple called it “uncomfortable.” In December, Apple blocked Endgame: Syria, which explores the Syrian civil war, from entering the App Store.

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