UK counter terrorism police ban controversial shooter from Steam

2 December, 2024

Members of the Met Police's elite counter-terror firearms unit.

Steam has removed a controversial shooter from the platform at the request of the UK counter terrorism police.

Fursan Al-Aqsa: The Knights Of The Al-Aqsa Mosque was released in 2022 and ‘addresses the Israel x Palestine conflict from a Palestinian perspective”. Developers described it as the “Palestinian Max Payne” and the game had scored an “overwhelmingly positive” review score on Steam.

“This game does not promote ‘terrorism’, antisemitism, hate against Jews or any other group. This is a message of protest against the Israeli military’s occupation of the palestinian lands. Fursan Al-Aqsa is a game about war, like many others,” said a disclaimer on the Steam listing.

However over the weekend, Valve removed the title from their platform. “We were contacted by the Counter Terrorism Command of the United Kingdom, specifically the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU). As with any authority for a region the [sic] oversees and governs what content can be made available, we have to comply with their requests,” they said in an email to developer Nidal Nijm (via Eurogamer).

“The region lock of my game in the UK was clearly due to political reasons,” Nijm said in a statement to 404. “I do not blame Valve nor Steam, the blame is on the UK government and authorities that are pissed off by a video game.

“On their flawed logic, the most recent Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 should be banned as well. As you play as an American soldier and go to Iraq to kill Iraqi people. What I can say is that we see clearly the double standards.”

The game has already been banned in Germany and Australia for not going through the proper rating system, while some people are calling for a worldwide ban after an update was launched that seemingly references the October 7 attacks.

“Fursan Al Aqsa: The Knights Of The Al Aqsa Mosque enables players not only to kill Israeli soldiers but also to attack kibbutzim, carry out suicide bombings, or behead Israelis. The game even asks them to take hostages. It’s shocking that this even needs to be said: you don’t gamify atrocities. You don’t glamorise terrorism,” said writer Hen Mazzig on X.

“You don’t create entertainment out of what was one of the most horrific days in Israeli history. How depraved must the developer be to think this is acceptable? Today, 101 hostages remain in Gaza, tortured for over a year—and Nijm thought it appropriate to include hostage-taking as a gameplay feature.”

Over the weekend, Roger Walters called Radiohead’s Thom Yorke a “complete prick” after the band played a gig in Tel Aviv despite a petition urging them not to. “By playing in Israel you’ll be playing in a state where, UN rapporteurs say, ‘a system of apartheid has been imposed on the Palestinian people’.”

 

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